Concern About the Outcome of the Synod (3)

The Synod Strategy: Discrediting Opponents in the Media

On the Spanish-language website InfoVaticana on September 6, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke about the Synod. He was invited to speak by the Pope, perhaps to “indicate to orthodox Catholics, maligned as conservatives or even traditionalists, that the composition of the participants is balanced,” as he himself puts it, uncertain that it is a true symmetry.

Nevertheless, he did not hesitate to declare: “Contrary to the Protestant denial of the sacrament of Ordination (bishop, priest, deacon), the hierarchical-sacramental constitution of the Church exists by divine right. Bishops and priests do not act as agents (delegates, representatives) of the priestly and royal people of God, but in the name of God for the people of God.

“Indeed, they are ordained by the Holy Spirit to feed God's flock, which He has purchased by the blood of His own Son as the new people of God (cf. Acts 20:28). For this reason, the office of bishop and priest is conferred by a distinct sacrament, so that the servants of God thus endowed with spiritual authority may act in the name and mission of Christ, Lord and Head of His Church, in their pastoral and priestly function of teaching (Vatican II, Lumen gentium 28; Presbyterorum ordinis 2).”

Cardinal Müller denounces a maneuver by the progressives: “The strategy is to oppose the heterodox position, which is pastorally more acceptable, to the orthodox position. The orthodox faith is not called into question.

“But the representatives of the Catholic Faith are psychologized as Pharisees and hypocrites, cold-hearted literalists, traditionalists in love with the past, or spiritually obstinate Indianists [Editor’s Note: Indianism is a movement born in Latin America in 1970-1980, which rejects the forms inherited from colonization]. At this intellectual level, it is easy to organize a close alliance with the Church-critical media and the ideologues of socialist and capitalist globalism."

And he refers to the situation in his native Germany: “The Church in Germany is in a state of rapid mental and spiritual decline, particularly as regards its official representatives and the circles of Catholic officials amalgamated with them.

"On the contrary, there are still many priests, religious, and lay people, as well as some bishops, who are and want to remain unreservedly Catholic. However, they are ostracized and marginalized by the 'synodalists.’”

In conclusion, the senior prelate—though still attached to the teaching of Vatican II, understood in the sense of the “hermeneutic of continuity” vainly promoted by Benedict XVI—candidly expresses his thoughts on synodality:

"Synodality is an artificially created abstract term and buzzword based on the concrete character of the synod—namely, the regional or general assembly of Catholic bishops exercising their pedagogical and pastoral charge to the Pope, but which paradoxically derives its aura from the denial of the hierarchical-sacramental constitution.

"In a broader sense, the synod can also be viewed as a method of optimal cooperation between all members and classes of the Church, who are to be of one heart and one mind in praising God and serving their neighbor (Acts 2:43-47).

“Synodality is by no means a new attribute of the Church, nor even the code name for another Church born of the secularized fantasy of the protagonists of a unified universal religion without God, without Christ, without the dogmas and sacraments of the Catholic Faith.”

A Historical Precedent

Bishop Jan Hendriks of Haarlem-Amsterdam (Netherlands), believes that against historical facts, there are no specious arguments that hold up. In Die Tagespost on August 25, he recalls the disaster of the Church in Holland after Vatican II, more than 50 years ago. He says: “I'm talking about my experience in the Netherlands. I personally attended the Pastoral Council in the 1960s.

"Believers in this region had the same ideas, those that are now advancing along the Synodal Path in Germany. I can only emphasize the consequences these ideas have had on us: they have caused a great deal of division and turmoil—among believers, with Rome and the universal Church—and they have led to strong secularization. People have turned their backs on the Faith.”

To the question: “In Germany, people think they have to keep up with the times to stay connected. The realities of people's lives today are becoming a compass for the Church...” the prelate replies: ”Yes, just as the Dutch thought at the time that this was the answer to secularization.

"People thought they had to become more secular and abandon certain things in their faith, if they wanted to keep up with the times and stay in touch with the times. But that was not the right answer. On the contrary. It led to an acceleration of the process of secularization even within the Church.” 

These are the concrete realities to which the ideologues of the Synod on Synodality—preceded by the Modernists of the German Synodal Path—are exposing the Church.