Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller of Regensburg as the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican announced today.
Bishop Müller replaces Long Beach, Ca.-born Cardinal William J. Levada, 76, who is stepping down on grounds of age. Bishop Müller also takes over Cardinal Levada's other responsibilities as president of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei", the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and the International Theological Commission.
The new CDF prefect has been elevated to archbishop and will probably be made a cardinal at the next consistory.
The appointment of the 64 year-old bishop has been speculated for some time, with the German press reporting it as almost certain over the past few days.
Originally from Mainz in central Germany, Bishop Müller is already a member of the CDF and highly regarded in Rome. A professor of dogmatic theology, he specializes in defending faith and morals, is a prolific author, and has had a dogmatic textbook translated into several languages. He has a reputation among many as a defender of Catholic orthodoxy, and is also an expert on ecumenism as well as an accomplished scholar of liberation theology. Some traditionalists have voiced concern about some of his views, however, arguing he has not shown strong enough Catholic stances.
A personal friend of the Pope, the bishop won accolades for his organisation of the Holy Father’s visit to Regensburg in 2006. He has also been compiling the collected works of Joseph Ratzinger through the “Pope Benedict XVI Institute”, an organisation he founded in Regensburg in 2008.
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Your Grace,Congratulations upon your New appointment.May I take this chance to wish you all the necessary Graces and Blessings you need for this new Apostolate.Ad Multos Annos.We wish you well.Bishop Kasomo Daniel,The Bishop of The Society of St.Peter and Paul Inc.
Looks like another example of deck-chairs on the Titanic to me!
“Some traditionalists have voiced concern about some of his views, however, arguing he has not shown strong enough Catholic stances.”
Just on the Virgin birth, transubstantiation, clerical celibacy, ecumenism, salvation, relations with traditionalists and liberation theology.
What a disaster.
Our Holy Father has been bashed almost constantly by his so called friends and the media in general.Although we hate to see Levada go,I am glad to see Benedict XVI has picked a man whom he knows and trusts & those who don’t like it need to remember the words of Rick Nelson’s song “well you can’t please everyone so, you’ve got to please yourself..“Love you Holy Father you are in my prayers daily….
It may be leaky and barely afloat, but the barque of Peter has not sunk yet. In fact, for most of its history, it has had the appearance of sinking.
I think appointment to such position should be regionally balanced congratulation to the new head
This like the Gospel is Good News.Hopefully ecumenical efforts will benefit from this new approach although past conservatives have contributed as well.Remember as has the Holy Father,that His is and This is a Universal Church.BrRoberto Moscow Patriarchate.
Hopefully, he will help with priestly problems. He could advise the Pope that if a Diocesan Priest wishes to marry before his ordination-he should be allowed to do so. And, because of the shortage of priests, he could advise the Pope that we need to allow nuns to become Permanent Deacons. I don’t think the “Window” has been opened far enough!
Hardly a day passes that I don’t read about some type of abuse by a priest or bishop! It is very disturbing!
I don’t understand what more is needed from a CDC leader to weigh in on:
“...the Virgin birth, transubstantiation, clerical celibacy, ecumenism, salvation, relations with traditionalists and liberation theology.”
What else is there that has *Eternal Value* to people in the pews? What else should the head of the CDC be insisting be believed by priests and taught to average pew people? THE CREED is key. Matters of eternal value were decided by the UNIVERSAL catholic church, umpteen years ago.
The comment about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic is well timed, regarding this appointment.
Unless a church leader 1) believes in Jesus and 2) can teach and preach His Gospel, in its FULLNESS - meaning *all* of the New Testament, not just the parts he likes, it doesn’t matter who’s in charge of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It will be chaos, with a different face.
It is the Deposit of Faith left to us by the apostles that is of utmost importance. Only it has *Eternal Value*. If a man cannot teach & preach the D of F, as it is written, INSISTING priests teach it too, he’s next to useless in bringing glory to God by fulfilling the Great Commission, no matter what he believes or how well he gets along with people. The man will be as good as house dust is to the Kingdom of God.
@ Rick Dykstra- St. Paul wrote in his Pastoral Letters to Timothy & Titus that a man in ministry can be married. 1Timothy 3:1-5 & Titus Chap One. Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians, “Do not Barnabas & I have the right to marry a believing woman, like Cephas (Peter) & the rest of the apostles?” 1Corinthians 9:5.
Even the Vatican admits that in the Latin rite, mandated celibacy is only a *practice* that can be changed, at any time, when the pope gives the word.
I would hope St. Paul’s letters would hold more clout for Pope Benedict than Bishop Muller’s counsel, but then, I do not have a clerical mindset or the death grip the Vatican has had on tradition (from the year 1139AD, when celibacy was mandated for all the Latin rite.)
Catholic apologists (mostly former Protestants) twist the meanings of Paul’s words so badly, distorting them to indicate that “believing wife” is actually “sister woman”, saying the apostles took along single women to do their wash and cook meals for them, etc. But I find that hard to believe, because it would most certainly raise eyebrows for single men and women to be living together. WIFE just makes more sense.
They’ll also tell you by “wife” it was indeed wife, but they did not have conjugal relations. If you buy that, you’ll fall for anything. Only people that do not know the Bible, in its fullness, fall for that.
The idea of the flesh being bad and the spirit being good came 200 years after Calvary and Pentecost, brought into Christianity by pagans that converted, bringing some of their odd ways with them.
Ever wonder why Origin, though lauded by some theologians today, was never declared a saint? He had himself castrated, to the angst of his superiours, that tried to convince him the flesh was *not* bad. Origin wanted to be a model Matthew 19 person, taking that verse out of context.
Regarding deacons - I like your idea to commission nuns as deacons. It is a service oriented role. Phoebe, a woman, was called a deaconess. Paul even sent his letter to Rome through her. Women are *not* to lead men, or be ordained priests, or pastor churches, but—you’re on to something with the role of deaconess. Thanks!
“Some traditionalists have voiced concern about some of his views”
Thanks. That is all we need to know. Traditionalists are hardly renowned for quibbling about banalities.
This reminds me of a radio debate between David Allen White and Christopher Hitchens, in which the latter remarked:
“I think we should understand that I’m not arguing with one of those a la carte Catholics this time. You’re the real thing, aren’t you?”
The dogs are barking!!
Yes, the faithful are permitted and even commanded to give a reason for their faith, to draw out its consequences, to make applications of it, to deduce parallels and analogies from it. It is thus by use of their reason that the faithful are enabled to suspect and measure the orthodoxy of any new doctrine presented to them, by comparing it with a doctrine already defined. If it be not in accord, they can combat it as bad, and justly stigmatize as bad the book or journal which sustains it. They cannot of course define it ex cathedra, but they can lawfully hold it as perverse and declare it such, warn others against it, raise the cry of alarm and strike the first blow against it. The faithful layman can do all this, and has done it at all times with the applause of the Church. Nor in so doing does he make himself the pastor of the flock, nor even its humblest attendant; he simply serves it as a watchdog who gives the alarm. Opportet allatrare canes—“It behooves watchdogs to bark,” very opportunely said a great Spanish Bishop in reference to such occasions.
(Fr. Felix Sarda y Salvany, Liberalism is a Sin, trans. and adapted by Conde B. Pallen [Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1993], 151-153
Friends! Continuing Catholic Church rigidity and refusing to open windows as needed does not make us stronger, purer, brighter, or better. More than ever, strength in ecumenism is essential! How long will we arrogantly insist that truth is one-sided rather than multi-faceted? There is a ton of room to be truly Catholic and revisit our doctrines. Remember, doctrines are man-made, dogma is revealed truth. So what if nuns become deaconesses and we loosen up in relation to both the Eastern Rites and our brothers and sisters, e.g., the Lutherans? Is Christ’s Church anything other than better off when we knock down silly barriers of gender (recall how Jesus was totally inclusive and counter-cultural) in relation to deaconesses, or if we become more inclusive in truth (without compromising dogma)? We have a great deal to learn and need to embrace a little humility and open our eyes and hands.
“The Son of Man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, faith on earth?”—our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 18:8)
Gender - Yes it does matter to Our Dear Lord. In answer to the Pharisees,
“Who answering, said to them: Have ye not read, that he who made man from the beginning, Made them male and female?” (Matthew 19:4) The Lord made you the way you are for His purpose. If one does not follow His instructions - Jesus will not force anyone to be with Him in Heaven. His way or the road that leads to Hell. We have the Law, the Prophets, and the teachings of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, out of which there is no salvation. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
German “Catholic” Theologian Otto Pesch admits Vatican II taught Novel Doctrine on Religious Liberty that was previously condemned by the Popes—says Benedict’s “Hermeneutic of Continuity” a Sham. Lord have mercy on us. Mother Mary pray for us.
Gerhard, your God shall be My God!
Ruth 1:16-17 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.”
This Shavuot season, I want to reveal a prophetic mystery hidden in this book.
We know that names have significant meanings. Elimelech, whose name means “My God is King”, left Bethlehem with Naomi his wife and their two sons. The birth of these two boys must have brought joy and happiness, yet, having perished in Moab actually caused their very names to lose their original meanings. The firstborn, Mahlon, which meant “ornament”, over the years came to mean “sickly”. Their second son, Chilion, derived his name from the Hebrew root for “joy”, but his name came to mean, “pining” and “whining”. Naomi, whose name means “pleasant”, changed her name to Mara, which means “bitterness”, saying, “the Lord has dealt very bitterly with me.”
Now Ruth, whose name means “friend”, remained persistent, despite Naomi’s exhorting her to separate and return to Moab. Instead, true to her name and character, Ruth invokes one of the strongest, most beautiful expressions of faith and faithfulness in all of scripture: “For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.” Thus Ruth forsakes her native land and joins herself irrevocably to the nation, people and God of Israel…a truly faithful friend, even to the point of death.
I would like to draw out from the story of Ruth, the meaning and application for our own time which we must contemplate on in our next hour of prayer. The Truth is Naomi and her two sons must be viewed as a type or picture of the people of Israel, and that Elimilech’s decision to leave the Land of Promise with them became a picture of Israel in the diaspora. This present exile of the Jewish people since 70 AD culminating in the holocaust, has often rendered them both “sickly” and “pining” for home, and Naomi’s experience outside the land of Israel brought death and desolation upon her.
The modern nation of Israel, birthed after centuries from the ashes of the Holocaust, and a long painful exile, has been suddenly restored to her ancient homeland, yet, in much bitterness, just as Naomi had returned to her homeland from Moab. Yet Ruth’s love and faithfulness must have been a profound comfort to her mother-in-law. So, Ruth can be seen as a picture or type of Gentile (Catholic) believers, whose faithful love, friendship and comfort bring deep solace to the people of Israel, who are still experiencing the bitterness of the exile and even now, the misunderstanding and opposition of the nations of the world. Many Israelis already know that their truest and most faithful friends in the world today are Roman Catholics whose love for them is unconditional, and beautifully reflects the devotion of Ruth to Naomi.
Finally, it is significant that Ruth’s loving and faithful character became inspiration for drawing out the redemptive grace of Boaz toward Elimelech’s widow, Naomi, so that her family line and inheritance were restored and preserved. As their Kinsman Redeemer, Boaz was deeply moved by the humility and faithfulness of Ruth to her mother-in-law, and as such, she can be seen as a type of intercessor between Boaz and Naomi. For if Boaz is pictured as a type of Yeshua (Jesus) our “Kinsman-Redeemer”, then Ruth, lying down “at his feet” can be a picture of believers’ humble prayers and intercession for the Jewish people entreating the Lamb of God for the mercy which restores us all to the inheritance which belongs to Him.
Gerhard, if in fact, Ruth can be seen as a “type” for Gentile believers, and Naomi, a picture of Israel, restored to her land, but still in bitterness, then Ruth can be an inspiration and a pattern for Roman Catholics who love Israel and who recognize her irrevocable calling as a nation. If the faithfulness of Ruth through love and intercession helped to restore Naomi to her true Kinsman-Redeemer, can it also be that the faithfulness and intercession of Gentile believers will be a powerful influence for the restoration of the Jewish people to their “Kinsman-Redeemer, the Messiah Yeshua Himself? Our friendship with Israel in word and in deed, and our prayers, in the midst of global opposition [Zechariah 14:2] will be a powerful testimony for Yeshua, and will help to remove the veil from Jewish eyes concerning His true identity. As we support the restoration of their Land (a Biblical promise), we also help to open the way for the far greater blessing of eternal life. Doing so, we also will be blessed according to these timeless words; “I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse them that curse thee!”
Your Family Always in the Hearts of Jesus & Mary,
Michael, Zenaida, Elizabeth, Justin & Joseph Sauerwein (-letters a,e & e = Surwin)
(43 year friend of His Eminence Cardinal William J Levada, Prefect Emeritus, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)
www.GodofIsraelisReal.com www.ThereisProof.com www.BibleProvenTrue.com
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