Archbishop Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has said members of the Western media appear "ridden" with attacks against the Catholic Church, where an "artificially generated anger" is growing that "occasionally reminds one of a pogrom atmosphere."
In a Feb. 2 interview with the German daily newspaper Die Welt that has caused quite a stir in that country, Archbishop Müller spoke of a "concerted campaign" to discredit the Church on the Internet and television that is resulting in open attacks against priests.
He also observed that those attacking the Church borrow arguments used by totalitarian ideologies — such as communism and Nazism — against Christianity.
Elsewhere in the interview, the CDF prefect said the Church is not suffering from too much "centralism," but, rather, not enough unity.
"The centrifugal forces are too strong," he said. "Rome is not a bureaucratic center for the Church, but, rather, guarantees orientation towards the successors of Peter."
He regretted statistics that show that 80% of baptized German Catholics no longer participate in the Eucharist on Sunday and argued that the question of faith in God must be placed in the center of life.
Asked if he thought, after seven years of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy, the view of the Church in Germany had changed from being, in the words of Cardinal Ratzinger in 1988, "lukewarm and boring," he said it depended on how the Church is considered. Sentiment appears hostile if one only views the Church from the perspective of public opinion, he pointed out, but he also stressed dialogue is a good thing, so long as the essentials are discussed and not the "same problems dished out again and again."
He cited the impossibility of women priests and the acceptance of same-sex partnerships ("They can in no way be equated to marriage") and said that the discipline of priestly celibacy, which precludes a married priesthood, corresponds to the example and words of Jesus and has a particular expression in the Latin Church.
"Celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God is rooted in the Gospel," he said.
Turning to authentic reform of the Church, he advised looking at the example of true reformers, such as Sts. Francis of Assisi, John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, as well as the Council of Trent, with its renewal of popular piety.
Archbishop Picketed
Evidence of the hostility toward the Church that Archbishop Müller discussed was on display in full force recently in Trieste, Italy.
On Jan. 12, the archdiocesan residence was besieged after Archbishop Giampaolo Crepaldi defended the Church’s teaching on marriage in a published interview.
Around 200 homosexual-rights activists from the Italian group Arcigay surrounded the residence, hurling insults and causing so much commotion that the archbishop was forced to seek refuge indoors.
"The first thing I did was go to the chapel, to pray at vespers, and then I started to read a thick book by Rodney Stark, the great American sociologist, entitled The Victory of Reason," he said. "The book analyzes, among other things, the many persecutions suffered by Christians in 2,000 years of history [and] demonstrates, with a wealth of data, that, in the end, the persecutors pass away while Christians continue, because the persecutions purify them and make them stronger."
The protesters called Archbishop Crepaldi "homophobic," "intolerant" and "racist" — despite the fact the archbishop strongly fought against racism when he served eight years as secretary at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He also rejected the accusation of homophobia, saying the protest passes through that pretext of hate directed against homosexuals to an assertion of the "rights of the family and marriage."
"The ultimate goal of these campaigns is to undermine what is a cornerstone of civilization, the concept of the family, founded on marriage between a man and a woman, equating it to other forms of cohabitation," he said in the interview, which was originally published by the weekly Trieste newspaper Vita Nuova.
Archbishop Crepaldi said that anyone like himself willing to state publicly the Catholic position that the true family is only one founded on marriage between a man and a woman could eventually become subject to criminal proceedings and prosecution. "If one who belongs to the Catholic Church travels this road and professes this doctrine, though not only this one, he will become party to criminal punishment, even jail."
"This insidious program, disguised as progressive and libertarian, will put the muzzle on everyone, depriving us of freedom," he said, adding that it is "ironic that the Church, which has given the world a higher conception of incomparable values of the human person and taught it the duty of respect, equality and fraternity, has come to be described as racist and discriminating. These are the quirks of history."
Tough Times Ahead
Quoting friends at the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, he warned, "Gender-style persecution against Christianity has begun, and it will be tough."
Said Archbishop Crepaldi, "There will be militant [Christians], those who seek compromise, those who cheat; there will be faithful, and there will also be martyrs."
Edward Pentin writes from Rome.
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YES WE NEED SHEPHERDS LIKE ARCHBISHOP CREPALDI WHO ARE READY FOR MARTYRDOM as in ACTS ch;4 APOSTLES SS:PETER&JOHN; TOLD the seular authorities of their time;
I just read a commentary by Fulton Sheen written approximately 50 years ago titled “The Crisis Must Come”. I have enclosed Archbishop Sheen’s remarks below:
‘Wild and gloomy times? Small wonder that people are shaken and confused! The signs are everywhere. The signs of our times point to a struggle between absolutes. We may expect the future to be a time of trials and catastrophes for two reasons: firstly, to stop disintegration. . . Revolution, disintegration, chaos must be reminders that our thinking has been wrong, our dreams have been unholy.
The second reason why a crisis must come is in order to prevent a false identification of the Church and the World. Our Lord intended that His followers should be different in spirit from those who were not His followers. . . But, though this is the divine intent, it is unfortunately true that the line of demarcation is often blotted out. Mediocrity and compromise characterize the lives of many Christians.
There is no longer the conflict which is supposed to characterize us. We are influencing the world less than the world is influencing us. Since the amalgamation of the Christian and pagan spirit has set in, since the gold is married with an alloy, the entirety must be thrown into the furnace SO that the dross may be burnt away.”
There is a clear anti-Catholic bias in the mainstream media (ex. CNN), who largely consist of lapsed Catholics, non-Catholics, and atheists. They tend to cast the church as the “bad guy” in every cirumstance, revelling in scandal, and attempting to control church doctrine even though they don’t belong to the church. It’s ridiculous. Last I checked, churches have the right to teach whatever they wish, so long as it’s legal. These people want the society itself to control church doctrine and practice, instead of God and church leaders. The Catholic Church is often critized for, in its early days, trying to accommodate surrounding pagan cultures. Nowadays, the surrounding pagan culture is trying to dictate what the church can and cannot teach or believe. That is unacceptable.
I cannot help it but thinking of the phrase “faith is nothing if it is not tested”
I don’t understand. The Catholic bishops spent the last 50 years tearing down and destroying the traditions of the Roman Church and now they act surprised when the media does the same thing. It’s like a rioter who throws bricks into glass windows and gets surprised when someone else joins in a throws a few stones. Our bishops scuttle around blaming this one and that one for the sorry state of the Church, especially the liturgy and reputation of the Church, when they worked so hard running from cover up to cover up, while stripping the altars of the saints and trashing the holy things of the Church. They love that face to face confession (to which almost nobody goes) but act so defensive when someone tries to get them to admit what they have done. The media talks about conspiracies and scandals in the Vatican - oh I wonder who this could be. Hmmmm as the Church lady said ... could it be SATAN? This is not entirely a joke. Those conspiracies are engaged in by these very same bishops. With their last breath they will haul the last statues of the saints out of the Church (think about the last time you saw the once ubiquitous Infant of Prague), discourage the sacramentals (when did you last know of someone wearing a scapular), or discontinue the community-related traditions of the Church such as a novena or May crownings or processing with the relics of the saints on Saints’ days. They can’t stop rushing to throw the holy things into the trash and deface old churches to make them “modern” stages of existential and personal crises. They hurry to stamp out every little thing which creates Catholic identity much as one would stamp out roaches crossing the kitchen floor. They want it all dead and dead NOW! And what they hate the most is anything beautiful or artistic and Catholic as it would lift the people’s hearts and souls and minds of the believers to ineffable things. Instead we are assaulted with the demonic groans an moans of contemporary Church music in Churches that resemble gyms. And then they wonder why people have stopped worshiping at their cafeterias. It;s because you literally drove them out of the temple, but your hearts are too dark to admit to this. What an accursed generation of bishops we have. And closing Catholic churches is their most favorite thing of all. The true nature of the Bishops was shown in the sex scandals. They will do anything they can to damage the people of God. Look at how they have to be pushed to encouraged the traditional Mass, literally forced kicking and streaming. And when they are caught doing wrong its like “who me”? The next pope sure has a hard task in his future.
Although all human beings are sinners in one way or another and none is perfect, ALL Bishops are not bad.
Jesus showed us this with His chosen Peter who denied Him 3 times yet repented, and His chosen Judas Iscariot who sold Him for 30 pieces of silver and did not repent.
We must encourage our Diocese Bishops and Priests to publically & frequently & and actively promote the reading and study of Holy Scripture and the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition”.
We must encourage our Bishops to teach that it is a mortal sin to commit Sacrilege against the “Real Presence” - and when necessary to enforce Canon 915.
We must encourage our Bishops to excommunicate when necessary per Canon 1399, & 1 Cor 5:11-13 - to teach, to stop scandal, to stop heresy, schism, relativism, secularism and confusion.
We must send an email or other communication to our Diocese Bishop when we witness abuses of the: Liturgy of the Mass, Code of Canon Law, CCC, or by any organization that calls itself “Catholic” within the Diocese.
Bishops are not mind readers, and do not know everything that happens within their own Diocese at all times. Most Diocese span many miles and have hundreds of thousands of Catholics within each boundary.
According to Canon 212 #3 all the Catholic Faithful have this obligation of communication with their Bishop. (Provide documentation if possible.)
@roman,
Your comments are silly. To say that the bishops’ efforts to improve and reform the church are the same as attacking it is ridiculous. I suggest you go back and read your emotional post and then apologies to the people who have to read it.
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I’m sure we all think we know better than the bishops and that we in the same position of responsibility would never make a mistake and have 100% support for 100% of our ideas and efforts.
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Of course I have disagreements with the bishops, but I also support them and pray for them, since they have dedicated their lives to a very difficult job. Pray, and God bless you.
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