Cardinal Müller: ‘Pastoral’ attitude severed from Church doctrine is the root of our crisis

(LifeSiteNews) — In a homily delivered yesterday at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, during the English Speaking Clergy’s International Conference (Jan 13-17), Gerhard Cardinal Müller addressed the crisis in the contemporary priesthood. He stated that there exists a “Christological heresy” that weakens the work of the priests. “Within the idea that the Christian dogma is no longer the ground and criterion of morality and no longer pastoral, a Christological heresy appears.” the cardinal said, adding that this heresy “consists in setting Christ the teacher of divine truth and Christ the good shepherd in opposition to one another.”

Speaking thus about an intellectual and doctrinal error that has crept into the Church, the German prelate and former Prefect of the former Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith, pointed out that “the root of evil is not clericalism, whatever that may be, but rather rejection of truth and also moral licentiousness.” In short, it is the very “corruption of sound doctrine” that “always entails and manifests itself in the corruption of morality.”

The prelate pointed out that intellectual corruption has preceded the moral corruption that we have today in the Church. Therefore, to correct this dire situation, he warned us not to seek false solutions, saying, “The true reform of the Church in the spirit of Christ is not the secularization of the Church and her submission of her leaders to woke ideology, but the sanctification of the Pope, the bishops, the priests and deacons and all believers by God’s grace for the service of Kingdom to come.”

LifeSite thanks Cardinal Gerhard Müller for giving us his kind permission to print his homily here:

Homily for the Clergy Conference

January 14 2025

By Gerhard Cardinal Müller, Rome

Dear brothers in the priestly ministry!

During the days of this retreat, we open our hearts and minds to the mystery of God’s real Presence in His Word made flesh, in the Holy Church, and in the Eucharist. In this most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, Christ, through the Holy Spirit, incorporates us into His Sacrifice to the Father for the salvation of the world. The Father’s eternal Son, in His human nature, is the Real Presence of the Triune God in the midst of us human beings. He said, “He who sees Me sees the Father” (Jn 14:9). He is the Way to the Father.

His disciples follow Him as they tread the road of this earthly life, and by the gift of perseverance, they do not abandon Him unto the day of their entrance into the house of the eternal Father. By freely embracing our different charisms and ministries as members of His Body, we build up the Body of Christ” until we all attain to the unity of faith and of knowledge of the Son of God, unto the perfect man, unto the full stature corresponding to the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). The Second Vatican Council explains in short words the substance of the sacrament of orders: “The same Lord, however, has established ministers among His faithful to unite them together in one body in which, “not all the members have the same function” (Rom 12:4). These ministers in the society of the faithful are able by the sacred power of orders to offer sacrifice and to forgive sins, and they perform their priestly office publicly for men in the name of Christ. Therefore, having sent the apostles just as he himself been sent by the Father, Christ, through the apostles themselves, made their successors, the bishops, sharers in his consecration and mission. The office of their ministry has been handed down, in a lesser degree indeed, to the priests. Established in the order of the priesthood, they can be co-workers of the episcopal order for the proper fulfilment of the apostolic mission entrusted to priests by Christ. The office of priests, since it is connected with the episcopal order, also, in its own degree, shares the authority by which Christ builds up, sanctifies and rules His body. Wherefore the priesthood, while indeed it presupposes the sacraments of Christian initiation, is conferred by that special sacrament; through it priests, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are signed with a special character and are conformed to Christ the Priest in such a way that they can act in the person of Christ the Head.” (Presbyterorum ordinis 2).

The ordained priest sanctifies, guides, and teaches the people of God in the name of Christ. For the priestly powers serve the salvation of the people only if the servants of Christ are ready to be inwardly transformed into the image of Christ, the High Priest of the New Covenant, by the Spirit of God’s truth and love.

Today we renew our willingness to offer our whole being and life as a sacrifice to God. This is an important step on your earthly pilgrimage and therefore also an hour of grace for the whole people of God.

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The Church, one in Christ, holy, catholic and apostolic, is instituted by the triune God Himself. Therefore, the “gates of hell” (Mt 16:18) cannot overpower her. But she is composed of us weak and sometime sinful human beings. On the human level, it is we who are responsible for her credibility problems. This is meant to remind us of our individual responsibility. Those who attribute the failures of the Church’s ministers to so-called systemic reasons accuse Christ Himself, the divine Founder of the Church and Author of the common priesthood of all believers and of the sacramental priesthood of apostolic ministry. But we cannot only look to the scandals but also to the daily readiness of so many priests to sacrifice themselves for the flock unto martyrdom. Christians are the most persecuted religion in the world today, and in recent years hundreds of Catholic priests have been while performing their office in the fellowship of Christ, the High Priest of the New and Eternal Covenant.

The root of evil is not clericalism, whatever that may be, but rather rejection of truth and also moral licentiousness. The corruption of sound doctrine always entails and manifests itself in the corruption of morality. The true reform of the Church in the spirit of Christ is not the secularization of the Church and her submission of her leaders to woke ideology, but the sanctification of the Pope, the bishops, the priests and deacons, and all believers by God’s grace for the service of the Kingdom to come.

Salvation from sin rests on the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. Without the historical fact of the Incarnation, the Church would shrink to a mundane agency for world-improvement. It would no longer have any meaning for our longing for God and the desire for eternal life. The Catholic priest would merely be the functionary of a socio-religious movement of some romantic or revolutionary character. The Church, however, does not gain relevance and acceptance when she carries behind the world all the baggage of the current spirit of the age, but only when she, with the truth of Christ, carries the torch before the world. We should not consider ourselves important on secondary issues and carry out the agenda of others who do not want to believe that God alone is the origin and the solitary goal of man and of the whole of creation.

For the real danger for humanity today consists in the greenhouse gases of sin and the global warming of unbelief and the trans-humanist decay of morality, when no one any longer knows or teaches the difference between good and evil. The best environmentalist is the one who proclaims the Gospel and its eternal truth that there is survival with God alone, and not just a limited survival, for the near future, but one that is eternal, forever.

Within the idea that Christian dogma is no longer the ground and criterion of morality and no longer pastoral, a Christological heresy appears. It consists in setting Christ the teacher of divine truth and Christ the good shepherd in opposition to one another. But it is one and the same Christ who says of himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6), and when He reveals the mystery of His person and mission, saying: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11).

Thus, the instruction of St. Paul to his fellow apostle and successor Timothy applies to all of us in this hour: “Flee from false teaching, be a minister of the word, a preacher of the true faith, and a fighter for the truth of Christ.”

The one who looks upon the people entrusted to him with the love of God is a truly prayerful and pastoral shepherd, who in his spiritual activity and Christ-like way of life aligns himself with the High Priest, whom he serves. The good shepherd differs from the hireling because he loves people with the heart of Jesus and because he lays down his life for the Lord’s flock. The apostle is “a co-worker with God, a servant of Christ, a steward and dispenser of divine mysteries” (cf. 1 Cor. 4:1; 2 Cor. 6:1). He is concerned with only one thing: “knowing the fear of the Lord, to win people to Christ” (2 Cor 5:11).

And if we are faithful in our priestly service unto death, the High Priest of the Eternal Covenant will then receive us graciously, fulfilling the promise that He gave us on the day of our ordination: “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for [His] name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold in return and will inherit eternal life” (Mt 19:29). Amen!

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