Cardinal Pell Challenges the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

In a statement released March 15, 2022, Cardinal Pell asked the CDF to “intervene and pass judgment” on statements by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich and Bishop Georg Bätzing. Cardinal Pell announced his move in an interview with the German Catholic television agency K-TV on March 11.

Jesuit Cardinal Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg and Msgr. Bätzing, Bishop of Limburg have, in recent interviews, called for a change in Church teaching on homosexuality.

Cardinal Hollerich, who presides over the synod on synodality, thus declared that the current teaching was “erroneous” and that the “sociological-scientific foundation” of this teaching which condemned this act as sodomy was no longer correct.

Bishop Bätzing, president of the German Bishops' Conference, for his part, argued on March 4 that same-sex relationships were permitted and not a sin, and that the catechism should be partially amended to reflect this fact.

The two prelates also pledged not to dismiss any priest or lay employee who is a declared homosexual from their dioceses. “No one should be afraid of losing their job” for reasons of homosexuality, Bishop Bätzing said.

Cardinal Pell said such teaching was “erroneous” because “not only does it reject Judeo-Christian doctrines against homosexuality, but it undermines and rejects the teaching on monogamous marriage, the exclusive union of one man and one woman.”

The Australian cardinal said he recognizes the challenges faced by the faithful, who are dwindling in German-speaking countries and elsewhere, but added that the only possible response was to “rediscover the promises of Jesus” and embrace more closely the “uninterrupted deposit of faith.”

The solution, he added, is “not to follow the changing dictates of contemporary secular culture,” adding that “as Pope Paul VI pointed out many years ago, it is of a path of self-destruction for the Church.”

Synodal Rupture

The Australian cardinal also criticized the Synodal Path of the Church of Germany, where these controversial changes are voted on by elected participants. He warmly endorsed the recent open letter from the Nordic Episcopal Conference to Bishop Bätzing, which expresses deep concern about this process.

“The Catholic Church,” he commented, “is not a federation in which various synods or national gatherings and prominent leaders can discard essential elements of apostolic tradition and remain unperturbed. … This rejection is a rupture, incompatible with the teaching of Scripture and the Magisterium, and with any legitimate doctrinal development.”

Cardinal Pell said in his statement that “none of the Ten Commandments is optional;” they all “must be followed;” and “we cannot have a special Australian or German version of the Ten Commandments.”

The cardinal concluded by reiterating his call for Vatican intervention.