Müller insists Francis is doing all he can to curb abuse

People can disagree about problems and the best ways to resolve them, but no one should launch a formal accusation against a pope, much less ask for his resignation, German Cardinal Gerhard Müller (inset) said, CNS reports.

Such public attacks put the Church’s credibility in question, he said in an interview with an Italian website, Vatican Insider, on 27 November.

“I am personally convinced that Pope Francis is doing everything possible to oppose the phenomenon of abuse against minors and to foster a new spirituality among priests who must act with the heart of Christ and do what is good for all people, above all for children and young people,” he said.

Asked about Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s public call for Pope Francis to resign, because he felt the Pope knew about the alleged sexual abuse involving US Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick but still failed to act, Cardinal Müller responded: “No one has a right to indict the Pope or ask him to resign.”

The former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is charged with handling cases of clerical sex abuse, said: “We all have to cooperate in order to overcome this crisis [of abuse] that wounds the credibility of the Church.”

“Unfortunately, we have these groups, these ‘parties’ — the so-called ‘progressives’ and ‘conservatives.’ We are all united in the revealed faith and not by the biases of political ideologies,” he added.