VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Gerhard Müller has warned of the danger of a new pope who would be “a heretic” basing his values on the “mass media.”
Following the death of Pope Francis on April 21, Müller spoke to The Times about his hopes for the upcoming conclave and the duty the cardinals have in electing a new Roman Pontiff.
The German cardinal – taking part in his first conclave – urged his brothers in the College of Cardinals to ignore the labels of party politics, such as liberal and conservative. A pope “must be orthodox – neither a liberal nor a conservative.”
Continuing, Müller commented that “the question is not between conservatives and liberals but between orthodoxy and heresy.” He added:
I am praying that the Holy Spirit will illuminate the cardinals, because a heretic pope who changes every day depending on what the mass media is saying would be catastrophic.
He pointed also to Francis’ acclaim from the secular media, warning that “Pope Francis is well viewed by the mass media and there is a risk [the cardinals] are saying, ‘We should continue.’”
Rather than taking this line cardinals, he said, “have the responsibility to elect a man who is able to unify the Church in the revealed truth.”
A new pope must avoid trying to “look for the applause of the secular world that sees the Church as a humanitarian organisation doing social work,” The Times reported him saying.
“Catholicism is not about blindly obeying the pope without respecting Holy Scriptures, Tradition and the doctrine of the Church,” he further noted.
These words echo those the cardinal made to this correspondent a few weeks ago, when he urged the Church to weigh up the decision of a new pope carefully.
READ: EXCLUSIVE: Cardinals must beware of ‘anti-Christian’ world when choosing a new pope
“I hope that there is in the College of Cardinals a deeper reflection about the condition and the situation of faith and the Church in this post-Christian, or anti-Christian world, the Western world,” he said.
Cardinals should not be looking for a candidate who is in line with the previous pope, but rather a man who is in line with St. Peter and the task handed to him by Christ. Müller stated:
All the time, every pontificate must go to the origin. The origin is present in the office of Saint Peter, and therefore a pope will become seated on the Cathedra of Peter; not the Cathedra of Francis or Benedict. They are only the chronological predecessors, but every pope is a successor of Saint Peter.
He further added that cardinals must put aside criteria of looking for a certain nationality of candidate, and instead look at what the papacy is, as instituted by Christ:
[Cardinals must be aware that] we are not only looking at what will be the reactions of the mass media saying, “We need a pope who is communicator in this world,” or secondary criteria that “Now we need an African or now we must return to an Italian,” or all these stupid criteria. They have nothing to do [with the papacy.]
We have to look to the explanation Jesus Himself gave of the service and the office of St. Peter, in the words he spoke to St. Peter: You are the rock and I give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven and you have to confirm your brothers in the faith and you are the shepherd of the the universal Church.
Aged 77, Müller was made a cardinal by Francis in February 2014, and served as prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal office from 2012 through 2017.
Following this, he was not given a new assignment from Francis, although he was only 70 years old at the time.
In recent years, the German has emerged as a leading critic of elements of the recently concluded pontificate, especially the Synod on Synodality.
Now, he will be a position to voice his views directly with his brother cardinals during the pre-conclave meetings which began on Tuesday morning.
There is no formal date yet given for the start of the conclave, though it must start between 15 and 20 days after the pope’s death. Such a calculation would put May 5 or May 6 as the earliest possible date for the cardinals to gather in the Sistine Chapel and vote on the new successor of St. Peter.
