Pope Francis, it becomes daily more clear, missed a trick when he released Gerhard Cardinal Mueller from his CDF desk and bestowed him upon a waiting world.
There's nothing like freedom; and Mueller is very much in his prime. I hope all readers will consider carefully the following pasage in a recent address he gave in Mannheim.
"In Europe, theologians immediately have to have the exact Council text ready when words like 'faith' or 'mercy' are used. This kind of theology with which we are familiar doesn't exist in Latin America. They are more intuitive there ... They look at a text without considering it as part of a whole. We must somehow respect and accept this style. But I nevertheless wish that as far as teaching documents are concerned, clear theological preparation must take place."
I think it is the most incisive and well-directed criticism I have so far heard of the current regime, of Pope Bergoglio, of Tucho and his other cronies, and of Amoris laetitiae. Cardinal Burke and his 'Dubia' colleagues didn't come within a mile of this for sheer clinical skill in inserting the stiletto neatly between the fifth and the sixth vertebrae.
So-called 'traddies' who unloaded unjustified abuse on his Eminence when Papa Ratzinger appointed him to the CDF should get munching their humble and contrite pie right now.
Does that mean putting Cardinal Burke back as a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura is an attempt to muzzle him?
ReplyDeleteLongtime reader and admirer here. I used to be Anglican, then became Catholic. The Jesuits I spent time with wished they were Episcopalians. Most parish priests were embarrassed by or ignorant of Catholic doctrine. The trads I knew wondered about the orthodoxy of our bishop because of the kind of container he used once during mass when more showed up than expected. All a mess very familiar from my Protestant days. Eventually just gave up and went back to being an indefensible but comfortable Anglican. Now you are happy (in a very sophisticated way) that a cardinal has metaphorically stabbed a pope in the back. Please repent and do a better job of representing the Church for which you searched so long. Part of me wants to “come home” and then I read stuff like this and wonder what’s the point? Private judgment and de facto schism reign there too, now with some impish malice from Fr Hunwicke, to boot.
ReplyDeleteThe Church has been in schism for decades. It's all to do with the war and the American empire which emerged from it. Until the Empire falls there isn't a great deal to be done. Just a series of pissing contests between Cardinals.
DeleteOne example is Madriaga of Honduras complaining about the American Burke and his German agents. I have sympathy with his view but what he neglected to mention was that in the other corner we have more Americans and another set of German agents. To make matters even more complicated, Burke has lost his power base back home because of the sacking of Bannon from the White House.
Confused?
Pope Benedict is now living like a Benedictine and the magnum silentium is the best option as your post implies.
A precision hit indeed... Not that we are any less grateful to Cardinal Burke and his 'Dubia' colleagues and their 'blunt instrument'...
ReplyDeleteOne feels Cardinal Burke was effectively muzzled by the silence that greeted the Dubia. And Mueller will be written off as a bitter man who did not have the integrity to say then what he says now. And alas, Fr. Hunwicke, references to the pontificate of Pope Francis as the “current regime” will be dismissed as so much “mindless abuse” made by marginal types become increasingly rabid by being ignored.
ReplyDeleteDear Peregrine Ward, as a former Episcopalian who left a church in 1999 that was in "de facto schism" over women priests and appointment of practicing homosexuals as bishop, I understand where you are coming from; however in this lifetime we are never going to find the perfect church as unfortunately it is populated by human beings with a tendency towards sin. I would rather pick on the basis of which one is the Church founded by Jesus Christ and has maintained the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic traditions including the successor to Peter, imperfect and human though he may be. Better a de facto schism than a church that has no one upholding the Truth.
ReplyDeleteIt seems the schism and polarization continue. No matter what the issue reported the sides line up. It is very sad but a result of instant access to data via the social media, and the lack of time for reflection before comment. Prudence? Nah, too slow and boring!
ReplyDeleteGood for Cardinal Muller even if his new found courage comes from the fact he can no longer be hurt.
The comment about Latin American theologians might well be true. I have no knowledge. But the comment about European theologians - how far is that true? Many seem to prefer to refer to their own, created 'spirit of Vatican 2' rather than the text of any actual document.
ReplyDeleteDear Peregrine Ward
ReplyDeleteI think you put your own finger on it.
You know that your position as an Anglican is "indefensible but comfortable".
Would it not be better to be a Catholic where the position is defensible though at times uncomfortable?
Ms. Vacantist,
ReplyDeleteI will venture to guess that you are not American, because the notion that Bannon was any kind of power in Catholic life in the US is not one that has currency here.
A daughter of Mary,
There are things that an honest and faithful subordinate may only say in private, even if they are true.
The fact that the prefect-emeritus of CDF might be now (or earlier) doing something praiseworthy does not mean that the critiques of some of his theological writings were wrong. Certain passages have been criticized already years before his appointment at the head of CDF, and not only in comboxes, but also by competent theologians like Fr. M. Gaudron who teached dogmatics in Zaitzkofen seminary.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the prefect - emeritus of the CDF is now saying things that some might wish he had said while he was still prefect in no way alters the truth of what he is saying. It is only a kind of ad hominem attack.
ReplyDelete