Cardinal Müller compares Pope Francis to a ‘dictator,’ says division was ‘his style’
Cardinal Müller is calling for Church unity based on orthodoxy, while Pope Francis’ closest supporters are rejecting any unity that would reverse the pontiff’s attempted changes to the Church.
Pope Francis attends a
Mass for the feast of the Epiphany at St. Peter's Basilica on January 06, 2023
in Vatican City, Vatican.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
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Mon Apr 28, 2025 - 3:21 pm EDT
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(LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Gerhard Müller rebuked Pope Francis as divisive, like “all dictators,” The New York Times reported on Sunday.
“That is his style, to divide,” Cardinal Müller told the NYT on Thursday. “All dictators are dividing.”
The comments of the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) came on the heels of the NYT’s note that Francis suppressed the Traditional Latin Mass with the excuse that it was undermining Church “unity.”
The prelates’ different conceptions of Church unity highlight the importance of the principle upon which such unity is based. Cardinal Müller recently stressed that the doctrinal orthodoxy of the pope is critical, affirming that one of the Church’s main tasks is to safeguard perennial Catholic doctrine – the very reason the CDF (now DDF) was founded.
For the very reason that Cardinal Müller is calling for unity predicated on orthodox, traditional Church teaching and practice, some of Francis’ supporters are spurning unity as a Church “priority.”
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For example, Cardinal Michael Czerny of Canada, who was one of Francis’ closest appointees, told the NYT, “It sounds really good,” but “it means reversal.” He added that for Francis’ opponents, unity means a “new introversion” with the promise of “solving all our problems.”
“If you ask me, ‘How would you name the wrong track for the conclave?’ I would say the idea that unity is the priority,” continued Czerny, who leads the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. “Unity cannot be a priority issue.”
Rev. Antonio Spadaro, the heterodox undersecretary for the Vatican’s office for Culture and Education, who was a close confidant to Francis, put it a little differently. He described what he considered a need for a “balance” between “diversity and unity,” but insisted that preserving unity must avoid a “freezing of the church.”
“Francis kept this very delicate balance and moved the church forward,” he claimed. The next pope must also “keep the two together,” according to Spadaro.
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When seen in the context of their previous statements, these prelates’ remarks suggest they believe the Catholic Church must “develop” – that is, fundamentally change – its moral teaching, which is impossible given Her mission to safeguard it. For example, Spadaro has been a vocal defender of Francis’ apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which many commentators consider to directly contradict Catholic Church teaching on very many points.
He has also suggested that theology is not clear-cut and definitive, stating on Twitter in 2017, “2 + 2 in #Theology can make 5.”
The Jesuit has been slammed as guilty of blasphemy after he published a Gospel commentary describing Jesus Christ’s words as “stymied and callous.”
For his part, Czerny has signaled his belief that Church teaching can develop by showing openness to discuss the matter of female “ordination.” The “women’s diaconate” alone has been declared impossible by Cardinal Müller, who has affirmed that the teaching on the impossibility of women receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders in each of the three degrees, including the diaconate, is a “dogma” of the Faith of the Catholic Church.
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