German Cardinal Gerhard Müller granted an interview to the French magazine Valeurs Actuelles, touching on topics such as the Mass and the Sacraments.
Newsroom (04/07/2023 09:00, Gaudium Press ) Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had a very interesting conversation with Laurent Dandrieu of the French magazine Valeurs Actuelles, published in the issue of 22 June.
The cardinal began by stating that of the different rites of the Mass, the most important thing is to keep identical “the substance of the Sacraments”, “even if these are celebrated in rites that have differed in the course of history”.
The ritual form must be very respectful of “the presence of a God who came to make His dwelling among us. But this “must not degenerate into a ritualism that would totally identify the exterior form with sacramental grace”.
The cardinal recognizes, certainly thinking particularly of France, that “many young people deeply sensitive to the religious dimension, feel affected by the secularism of many priests and communities who hide their loss of faith under the tinsel of the renewed liturgy of Pope Paul VI. The dogmatically just Catholic faith must in any case be consistent with interior piety, the elevation of the heart to God”.
Of course, the cardinal recognises the full power of the Church to regulate the liturgy. However, he does not fail to affirm that “the Second Vatican Council in no case spoke of the need for a new liturgy as an expression of a dogmatically modified faith. In recognizing the equality of all the rites in force (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 4), the Council decided to make some small and prudent modifications to the rite in order to facilitate the full participation of the faithful, as required by the “nature of the liturgy” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 14). It is not a question of a change in the theology of the Mass and the Sacraments, a change that would be expressed in another liturgical form and which, in any case, is excluded insofar as we wish to remain Catholic“.
And he continues: “What essentially differentiates us from Protestantism is this: the Sacraments are signs instituted by Christ for his Church which accomplish what they signify” and are not just a (second) expression of our subjective faith.
Not to be ashamed of being ‘traditionalist’
“One should not qualify oneself as a ‘traditionalist’ or allow oneself to be insulted by others under that term. Sacred Scripture and apostolic tradition constitute for all Catholics the foundation and source of their faith, a faith which the Magisterium of the Church faithfully guards and expounds. Orthodoxy consists above all in the content of the confession of faith and in the substance of the Sacraments, and only afterwards in the formulas of dogma and in the rites of the liturgy.
Injurious accusations, guided by the desire for power
On the accusations of retrogression, expressed by love for the ancient liturgy, the German cardinal commented:
“Unfortunately, there are also leaders in the Church who, instead of discussing with theological competence, suspect the position of others in order to defame them. Such attitudes, ad hominen (directed to man) and not ad rem (to the thing or matter), are anti-Christian and harmful to the Church, because they are guided not so much by love of neighbour as by the desire for power“.
The journalist Dandrieu then reminded the cardinal that he had stated that the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes was clearly intended to “condemn the extraordinary form [of the Mass] to the point of its long-term extinction.”
The total involvement of papal authority in matters that are not fundamental to the truth of the Gospel and the unity of the faithful in Christ is counterproductive,” Cardinal Müller replied. “One cannot accept in silence the blasphemy of pseudo-blessings to couples incapable of marriage and at the same time forbid true and valid celebrations of sacraments only because the rite personally displeases or because those who participate in it are suspected of being ‘sick’.”
But would liturgical diversity not endanger the unity of the Church, the cardinal is asked.
“A Catholic is one who is united to the Church by the confession of faith, the seven Sacraments and the recognition of the Pope as successor of Peter with the bishops in communion with him. From the point of view of rite, the Anglicans and several other Protestant “Churches” have almost the same liturgy as the Catholics. The Greek-Catholic Christians have the same liturgical form as the Orthodox Churches, but separated from Rome. That is not where total unity lies.”
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm