Müller denies he intended to block debate

Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has denied trying to block debate on the integration of remarried divorcees in the Church, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

He has come under attack from sections of the German Church in the past two months for his insistence that there can be no change to the prohibition of Communion for ­remarried divorcees, because that prohibition rests on Christ’s teaching. Many clerics and laity argue the Church must be more merciful.

The current row goes back to an article entitled “The Power of Grace” by Archbishop Müller published in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano on 23 October. In it he reaffirmed that Catholics in irregular marital unions after divorce cannot receive Communion, while insisting it was “all the more imperative” to show “pastoral concern”.

On 12 November, the German daily Die Tagespost also published a letter by Archbishop Müller in which he said: “The Magisterium underlines the practice based on Holy Scripture that remarried divorcees may not be allowed to receive the Eucharist.”

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, a member of the Council of Cardinals, then declared that Archbishop Müller could not stop the debate. Now Archbishop Müller has responded once again. Last week he told the Passauer Neue Presse: “I was not speaking about ending the discussion but about how it was rooted in Christ’s teaching and in the Magisterium, which are not up for discussion by a plebiscite on questions of faith.”