Muller: Papal Praise & Gift from Heaven

TIA,

Can you imagine St. Pius X talking like that? The following is a full translation of the salutation written by Pope Benedict XVI for a Festschrift, articles in honor of the 60th birthday of [then] Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller.

The text below was taken from a Rorate Caeli blog.

     J.B.


Dear Bishop Gerhard Ludwig,

I wanted to contribute at least a salutation to the Festschrift for your 60th birthday. I well remember our first meeting when you gave me your dissertation on the Sacraments in the thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. That was an ecumenical work of a unusual kind; everyone thinks that they know at least the main theses of that great Protestant thinker, but you showed surprising aspects of his thought, thereby inviting an encounter of a special kind.

In the year 1995 you sent me your Dogmatic Theology. As far as I can see it is the only handbook in our field on the market written by a single author. It is thus able to reveal the whole structure of the world of the Catholic Faith in its inner unity. It also has the particular advantage of being limited to a size which makes it suitable as a textbook for students. You thereby sent an important signal; theology, and even the field of dogmatic theology, is in danger of dissolving into specializations which obscure the greater whole, but every part of our Faith is only really intelligible in the light of the whole.

These encounters were primarily literary, but we became personally close in the years in which you were a member of the International Theological Commission, of which I (as prefect of the CDF) was president. We were all deeply impressed by your comprehensive knowledge of the whole history of dogma and theology, which your interventions always showed, and which was the foundation of your ever-reliable judgment. In everything we sensed that your theology was not just academic learning, but that it was and is – as the essence of theology demands – a thinking-with the word of the Faith, a thinking-with the “we” of the Church as the communal subject of the Faith.

You took care to make the work of the International Theological Commission better known in Germany, and in all those years you continually published important contributions on the pressing theological questions of the day. You made great efforts to explain the true meaning of the document “Dominus Jesus” which had so often been distorted in the reduction to a few slogans. As bishop of Regensburg you took the foundational biblical expression “Dominus Jesus: Jesus is the Lord” (Rom 10:9; 1 Cor 12:3) as your motto, and by so doing you determined your agenda: Christ stands at the center of the episcopal ministry; He is the center of our Christian existence. At the time of your episcopal ordination, when the debate about the document beginning with those words was raging, your motto was a reminder that the Magisterium wanted thereby to call us back to the center of our Faith.

Now it has already been five years since the See of St Wolfgang was entrusted to you. You have had to endure many storms, and more will surely come. But during this time, no one could doubt that you wanted only the one thing: to give witness to Jesus Christ, in whom God has turned His Face toward us and opened His Heart for us. And so on your 60th birthday I hope and pray that the Lord might help you to always remain His faithful witness and thus to be a “co-worker of our joy” (cf. 2 Cor 1:24)

     Given at Rome on the Feast of St Hilary, 2007

     Benedictus PP. XVI

Dear TIA,

As always, thank you for being a solid anchor of truth in these dark and confusing times, where even the more faithful amongst us can be easily swayed by the fierce tempest.

At the news of Archbishop Muller's appointment as Prefect of the CDF, I initially found myself in complete shock and disappointment. Then, I had some time to think about it.

Whilst I still vehemently maintain my position as far as his utter lack of suitability for the position (for grave reasons that we have come to learn about -- in great part thanks to you, TIA), I don't doubt that some of us have come to realize that there just might be a "positive" side to all this.

With respect to the SSPX, what better sign from heaven clearly pointing to the fact that Rome has not changed, but is in fact doubling down on its diabolical disorientation?

Heaven, I believe, has given us a true gift in Archbishop Muller's appointment as far as giving us a warning sign that couldn't be clearer to those who wish to remain faithful to the Catholic Church. Better his appointment, I say -- the clear give-away of an unabashed modernist that he is -- than that of a subtle wolf whose equally subversive agenda would be "that" much more difficult to figure out -- cloaked, as it would be, in "traditionalist speak," and thereby carrying the very real potential to lead many to a false sense of security... and eventual surrender.

With all due respect to the SSPX rosary crusade which recently came to a close, I would venture to say that Archbishop Muller's appointment was Our Lady's kind and loving motherly response. We didn't get what we asked for . . . canonical regularization, etc., but like any good mother, she gave us what we needed: a stern warning and wake-up call to keep her dear children out of danger!

Just so that there is not a slight chance for a misunderstanding, I do not presume to speak for heaven or for the SSPX -- CLEARLY! These are then just some thoughts of a layman who feels he has come to make some sense of the shocking situation at hand. May we all persevere and bravely fight for the complete restoration of our Holy Mother the Church. May the Immaculate Heart triumph!!!

     Sincerely,

     S.K.