Yesterday’s crucial meeting went quicker than expected, lasting a little over two hours, but the outcome pleased none of those who took part, and will have far reaching consequences for the Church, sources close to the talks have told the Register.

An excerpt from full article:


In comments to the Register May 4, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, expressed his disappointment with the outcome, saying the statement was “very poor” as it contained “no answer to the central, essential question.” It is not possible, he stressed, to be in “sacramental communion without ecclesial communion.”

For the good of the Church, he added, a “clear expression of the Catholic faith” is needed, for the Pope to “affirm the faith,” especially the “pillar of our faith, the Eucharist.” The Pope and the CDF, he went on, are supposed to “give a very clear orientation” not through “personal opinion but according to the revealed faith.” 

A source close to the two bishops opposed to the proposal told the Register May 4 that the “official answer is that there is no answer.” The Holy Father, he said, had “failed to fulfil his obligation as pope regarding a question of dogma which his office must decide.” 

The Pope “refused” to take a line, he stressed, “and the CDF was left to act as a postman, not to affirm the faith, but to announce this information.” The dicasteries, he said, “are useless” if all will be given over to bishops’ conferences to decide. He acknowledged that the term “unanimity” is not properly defined in this context, but expects Cardinal Marx to somehow seek to reduce the number of bishops opposed to the proposal in order to attain the unanimous requirement for it to go forward. 

“Our job now is to strengthen the seven bishops, to strengthen our priests in the argumentation” the source said. “It’ll be a long fight and over the next six months, this is what we’ll be dedicating ourselves to.”