A precis of the Interview with commentary:
“Amoris Laetitia? It should be read as a whole,
in every case adultery is always a mortal sin and the bishops who
confuse things should study the doctrine of the Church. We have to
help the sinner to overcome the sin and to be converted”.
Commentary: So starts the article with the Cardinal firmly
placing AL to be interpreted in the light of previous teaching.
The journalist asks, “What is doctrine?”
The Cardinal responds that everyone is looking for
truth which is why God gave us our intelligence and our will. God
is the beginning and end of everything and that is why it is
necessary to know what God has revealed through Jesus Christ. As the
catechism says, we unite ourselves with God through prayer and the
seven sacraments. Knowing God is the first fundamental dimension of
the Faith. We need permanent catechesis. Doctrine is therefore the
basis of all the life of the Church otherwise the Church will just
be a charitable NGO. Doctrine is absolutely necessary for salvation.
The journalists asked whether doctrine in the last
ten years has not had a good press. That it is just a series of laws
beyond the capability of man, moralising, etc.
The cardinal replies that this arises from the
errors of 18th century rationalism. Confining reason to
this world but unable to reason about the transcendent as with Kant.
Faith is believing in God in the light of the Incarnate Word with
the Holy Spirit through the testimony of the Church (Bible, Tradition
and Magisterium).
The journalist points out that many in the Church
do not accept this and points to the Church scandals … so how do we distinguish between
those who are with the Gospel and those who are earthen vessels?
The Cardinals says there will always be scandals
in the Church as Jesus foretold (Luke 17,1). There have always been
unworthy priests and we must not worry about them – their
sacraments are always valid.
“We can not expect to choose a
pope, a bishop or a priest out of a kind of catalog as if to
satisfy a personal desire.”
Commentary: Is there somebody he does not like? And yet, say the
journalists, the Church often wants to appear credible?
Cardinal Muller continues...
"The
Church does not lose credibility when any priest falls into sin as we
can all fall into sin. It is when he abuses his authority in order
to sin that the Church's credibility is damaged."
Commentary: Is there a subtle
hint here about senior clerics promoting doubtful teaching?
Journalist: It
is often said that the faithful should identify the Word with Holy
Scripture. Is that not a reductive view?
Cardinal:
“Certainly. We are not a religion of the Book but of the Word
preached by Jesus Christ who did not write the Scriptures.”
He
goes on to say that the Scriptures are the most important testimony
of the Word but there is also Tradition. Protestantism has devalued
this tradition of the Church – the early fathers, the councils, the
sacramental life.
Journalist: “
If that is the case then doctrine is an obstacle to Christian Unity.
One only has to think of the seven sacraments.”
The Cardinal
says the sacraments are not only a sign of grace but are the source
of grace. Scripture is an archival document; faith is not based on
this archive but as revealed in the Church.
Journalist:
“Then the differences between the Catholic Church and other
Christian confessions are not based on rigid apologetics?”
The Cardinal
replies that the protestant reform was not just intended as a reform
of some moral abuses but went to the fundamental Catholic conception
of revelation. How could the Church abandon 1500 years of
sacramental life? The Church can always be reformed as to its moral
life and any worldliness. With Protestantism the problem is not only
the number of the sacraments but something more significant.
Ecumenism cannot progress with relativism and indifference to
doctrine.
Commentary: This is a rather different vision of ecumenism as regards
Lutheranism to what we have seen from Pope Francis,
Journalist:
“Another argument to-day is the rapport between doctrine and
personal conscience.”
The Cardinal
says everyone must follow their conscience but it is a conscience
that expresses a rapport, a relationship with God who has given us
the commandments to enlighten us. Conscience needs grace to choose
the good.
Journalist:
“Then there can be no contradiction between doctrine and personal
conscience?”
The Cardinal
says that is impossible...
“For example, one cannot say that there
can be circumstances where adultery is not a mortal sin.”
At variance with Amoris Laetitia, Muller says that Catholic
doctrine says mortal sin and grace cannot coexist. Confession deals with that problem.
The journalists
say this question is the debate about AL.
The Cardinal
says AL must be interpreted in the light of the Church's doctrine.
Confession is the answer where there is confession of sins,
contrition, firm purpose not to sin again and penance. Without any
one of these four elements there is no sacrament. People must be
helped but there must be no concessions on this doctrine. He
criticises so many Bishops who interpret AL according to their own
mode of understanding the teaching of the Pope. The Magisterium of
the Pope can only be interpreted by him. It is for the Pope to interpret to the Bishops; not for the Bishops to interpret the Pope.
It just so happens that this is surely what the four Cardinals are calling for with their dubia.
Commentary: Surely this is interesting saying
effectively that it is for the Pope alone to interpret AL. Supposing
this to be correct the Pope can either interpret it himself or he can
ask the CDF to do so and endorse what the CDF says. In fact he
has not asked the CDF to interpret AL and Cardinal Muller is only
speaking in his personal capacity. However the Pope has endorsed the
interpretation of the Buenos Aires Bishops which allows communion for
the divorced and remarried in certain circumstances. He has said
that is the only possible interpretation. It is to be noted that the
BA Bishops claim to rely upon a letter by St John Paul II to say that
a firm purpose of amendment is not required in confession. In fact
JPII said nothing of the kind in that letter. What he did say was
that the knowledge that one will probably sin again does not
invalidate a firm purpose of amendment. If however you do not have a
firm purpose of amendment then, according to Cardinal Muller,
confession is defective in lacking one of the four requirements and
therefore there is no sacrament. The implication of this endorsement
of the BA Bishops is that we are into heresy.
Cardinal Muller
goes on to say we need to study the doctrine on this point in the
documents of both Vatican Councils without diminishing the doctrine
on the sacraments in those and other Councils including Trent. He
quotes the letter to Titus about Bishops being faithful to doctrine
(Titus 1,9).
The journalists
then ask about the development of doctrine and how it should be
understood.
The Cardinal
says that development is a movement to better understand the
profundity of mystery.
One can
reflect on the development of doctrine following the example of
Blessed JH Newman and Joseph Ratzinger. We need to understand
development in order to defend against evolutionary modernism on the
one hand and rigidity on the other. Continuity not breaking with the
past. What is dogmatically defined cannot be changed least of all
the doctrine of the seven sacraments. He mentions Arianism as not
being a development of the dogma of the incarnation but a corruption
of the faith. The Church teaches that marriage is an indissoluble
union of a man and a wife. Polygamy is not a development! AL wants
to help people in irregular unions but not to justify such.
The journalists
ask whether the requirement in Familiaris
Consortio
that the divorced and remarried should refrain from sexual relations
is still valid.
Certainly,
says the Cardinal. It is not just JPII who has said this but it is
part of Christian moral theology and the theology of the sacraments.
The confusion on this point relates to the lack of acceptance of
Veritatis Splendor
and the clear doctrine of
intrinsic evil. No
authority can change this. Christ has made the doctrine of marriage
clear. There is no need to accede to the worldly view that marriage
is a purely private affair. No power on earth, no angel, no Pope, no
council, no bishop can change this.
The
journalists ask how the chaos resulting from the different
interpretations of AL can be resolved.
The
Cardinal recommends reflecting on the teaching of the Church starting
with the Word of God in the Holy Scriptures which is very clear on
matrimony. Further one must not enter into casuistry which can
easily lead to bad intentions eith the idea that the death of love
dissolves a marriage. That is sophistry. The role of the Bishops is
not to create confusion but to make things clear. Do not refer to
little passages in AL but read it as a whole. It is not AL that has
provoked confusion but certain interpretations.
Commentary: Well
what about the interpretation which Pope Francis has given it in
endorsing the BA Bishops. Austen Ivereigh has said that critics of
AL have missed the train. Well certainly Cardinal Muller has missed
the train not noticing the interpretation that Pope Francis has given
to AL. More important is that the passengers on the train have not
noticed that the engine driver is the Earl King. Father, O father!
Disclaimer: My Italian is rudimentary so I hope I have got it right!