EXCLUSIVE: Cardinals must beware of ‘anti-Christian’ world when choosing a new pope

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Members of the College of Cardinals need to reflect deeply on the “anti-Christian” nature of the world and the situation of the Church when electing a new pope, said the former head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office.

“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,” said Gerhard Cardinal Müller.

The German cardinal’s commentary on the duties of cardinals and responsibilities of the papacy came during a recent interview with LifeSiteNews in Rome, the first part of which can be found HERE.

Not wishing to speculate on when a papal conclave might occur, though aware that such an event is – as ever – a normal part of the Church’s life, the 77-year-old Müller offered advice to his brother cardinals who will have the duty of electing the next Pontiff.

He warned about the rise of Islam, Marxism, “green” climate-focused ideology, and trans-humanism, along with anti-Christian influences such as the Rockefeller Group and Yuval Noah Harari.

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.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller delivers a homily to participants of the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage on October 26, 2024, at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. ©MichaelHaynes

LifeSiteNews interview with Cardinal Müller: Part 2

Haynes: We noted first how Pope Francis is in a critical condition [at the time of the interview]. We also mentioned the crisis in the Church, but also we see a similar crisis in the world where the world is now very anti-Christian, very atheistic, very pro most things which are not Christian.

Looking to the future, when the time comes for the next conclave and for the next pontificate, what issues do you think would need to be addressed both in the Church and the world as we tackle the twofold issue there?

Cdl. Müller: 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. Also [taking into account] the challenges of Islam, or the world-wide growing Marxism in different forms, the “Green Movement” or “genderism” and transhumanism.

We spoke just at the beginning about Marxism, but [there is a] deeply anti-Christian [sentiment] against creation, against revelation, and against redemption by God.

Ideologies [and] these groups like George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Rockefellers – they are promoting a strong anti-Christian ideology. So also the Jewish philosopher, Yuval Harari, is a prophet of this anti-Christian and anti-theistic wish of the world and their understanding of human existence.

[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.

[Cardinals must also] look to Simon the fisherman who was, on the one hand with his great vocation as a most important person in the life of Jesus, the second most mentioned person in the New Testament after Jesus – but on the other hand was also a weak man and required St. Paul to speak firmly to him.

Sometimes it was necessary for St. Paul to speak very harshly against him, i.e., the reaction to St. Peter about whether the baptized pagans are obliged to observe all the rites and the norms of the Jewish Old Testament. That is why the pope in the Catholic understanding is not an Oracle of Delphi but a human being and sometimes it is necessary [to conduct] certain consulting. Also, objections come from the cardinals as the cardinals are a synod of the pope.

A pope has all this authority given by Jesus, including infallibility in some special cases. But on the other hand, as a human there are good sides and bad sides and characters [of each pope], and therefore there is needed – for checks and balances – consulting, as regards important decisions especially regarding doctrine, with the College of Cardinals and also with the the bishops, the collegiality of the bishops in order to avoid an autocratic understanding or practice.

READ: EXCLUSIVE: Cardinal Müller says the Church ‘is not in the world to justify sin’

We have in history some examples of popes who damaged the Church by an incorrect exercizing of the Petrine office. We as Catholics absolutely accept the revealed doctrine about papacy in our faith as belonging to our revealed faith; but on the other hand, we are not forced to justify all that happened during the 2000-year history of the Church.

[Müller mentioned the intertwining of political power with the Church in previous centuries, and elements which were affected by that.]

That does not belong to the infallibility of the Church, and therefore [a pope] could make wrong decisions. [For example] Clement V dissolved the Order of the Templars – the wrong decision, the unjust decision, by the pressure of the King of France.

We have also the suppression of the Jesuits, the pope knows this very well: this was due to the pressure of the kings of France and Spain. And therefore we have not to justify all what happened and was said and it was done in history, but we have to look to the heart of doctrine about the authority of the councils, the ecumenical councils, of the pope and the bishops.

There is a limited authority in strict relation to Jesus Christ, who is the only teacher, High Priest, and mediator of created salvation and the Church.

Cardinals and bishops at the Vatican, Oct 2024. ©MichaelHaynes

Haynes: A lot of the concern that I’ve noticed when conversing with other lay Catholics is that often, in recent years, it seems that many cardinals are themselves promoting this confusion or they’re tolerating it quietly. What would be your assessment of the College of Cardinals and what would be your advice to your brother cardinals in that regard?

Cdl. Müller: Every pope is a successor of St. Peter, not of his predecessor. He has not to copy his predecessor: can’t [just] become a pope like Pius XII or in his image. But every single pope is a successor of St Peter. His orientation and authority is what Jesus promised to him and gave him in his own way, in his own person to realize – with the help of the grace of God and the prayers of all the Church – in the best possible way to lead the Ship of St. Peter in the best way possible.

But what some are saying [is that] now we need the next pope to be like Benedict [XVI], he must become a new Benedict and become a contradiction: and now with Pope Francis they say we must have a Francis II to continue his doctrine.

But there is not his doctrine: there is only one doctrine of Jesus Christ in the Church and popes don’t have the authority to develop their own doctrines … [they can offer] only an interpretation or application of the one Word of revelation, given once and forever and revealed for us in Jesus Christ in the actual situation.

All the time, every pontificate must go to the origin. The origin is present is in the office of St. 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 St. Peter.

Altar of the Chair, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City

He must look to the words of Jesus revealing the inner sense of the papacy. Jesus spoke to St. Peter and after the resurrection, revealing Peter as head of the college of bishops and all of the coming church, all the members of the church. At Pentecost, Peter – in the name of all the apostles and of Jesus Christ – raised his voice and said: “Jesus who you crucified is revealed by God the Father as our Savior of everybody, the true Messiah, the true Christ.” This is the confession of faith, you are Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God.

This is the heart of the papal mission – to remind all the faithful all the time of the Christo-centric existence of our belief and of the Church. Christ is the head, and from Jesus Christ is derived all truth and grace, and the pope is only the permanent, visible principle and foundation of the unity of the Church – unity in the revealed faith, not a unity like the two wings of a political party. A good manager makes compromises so at the end they have unity; but the unity in the grace and the truth of God is a reflection and a representation of the unity of Jesus Christ, the head of the Church with the Father. [As a representation] of the inner Trinitarian unity of the three persons and therefore, in Lumen Gentium chapter 4, it reads that the Church is united by toward the unity of the Triune God.

Haynes: The pope is not a successor just of his predecessor, say of Francis or Benedict, but of Peter. Often today the idea is quite widespread that only the “current thing” is correct.

Cdl. Müller: Now, people say that the Pope is a very modern pope which is good for the Church today, but [this is] modern in the worldly sense. [They say] that we need a new pope who is a successor of him and [the papacy] is not going back.

In a world thinking in categories, ideological categories of modernists and progressives and traditionalists and conservatives and all this – these things are political or ideological categories for dividing people according to these ideological systems and not uniting believers toward the truth which is revealed in Jesus Christ.