Cardinal Müller Arises as Heir to Benedict XVI

In Rome, the Christmas truce seems to have been short-lived: even to have been shattered with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s call to God on December 31, 2022, whose funeral - botched according to several Vaticanists - was an opportunity to put the spotlight on the sharp tensions that are bound to shake the last part of Pope Francis’s pontificate.

After the publication of the interesting excerpts of Nothing but the Truth, a work written by Msgr. Georg Gänswein, former private secretary of Benedict XVI, which does not show the Argentine pontiff in his best light, it is the turn of the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to once again express his criticisms of the host of St. Martha’s House.

“Pope Francis's restrictions on the Latin Mass were imprudent. I think that the sovereign pontiff would benefit from being more attentive to all sensitivities within the Church, even those that seem furthest from his own.” The judgment of Cardinal Ludwig Müller fell like a cleaver in the press release on January 10.

In his book, Msgr. Gänswein claims that the pope emeritus “discovered” the publication of the decree restricting the use of the Missal of John XXIII the day it was published, July 16, 2020, “by leafing through L'Osservatore Romano.” The prelate adds that the German pontiff, while respecting “the responsibility for the decision” of his successor, viewed it, “in a personal capacity, as a decisive change of course,” and even as an “error.”

It is into this open breach that Cardinal Müller has rushed, he who had not finished being the talk of the Vaticanists at the start of the year. On January 27, Cantagalli editions will publish the latest book by the high German prelate, which consists of a series of interviews granted to Franca Giansoldati a journalist from Messagero.

The former patron of the faith appointed by Benedict XVI takes up the issues dear to his predecessor, and denounces the “doctrinal confusion” and the danger of schism, illustrated in particular by the progress of the Synodal Path in Germany:

“Revealed doctrine is denied, it is not only about pastoral or liturgical reforms, but it is about the very substance of the faith. Blessing homosexual couples goes against God,” warns Cardinal Müller, who implicitly stands as the guarantor of Josef Ratzinger’s legacy.

One thing is certain: for the electors of the Sacred College, the great maneuvers for the next conclave have already begun, accelerated by the disappearance of the pope emeritus and the lingering doubts about the health of the current successor of Peter, whose pontificate is already ancient history in the eyes of more than one porporato.