US and German Cardinals Call for Trial and Removal of German Bishops Endorsing Same-Sex Marriage Blessings

Catholic Church leaders in Germany must be punished for breaking with the Vatican and approving blessings for same-sex marriages, say two cardinals.

Cardinal Raymond Burke of the United States and Cardinal Gerhard Müller of Germany spoke about the ongoing de facto schism in Germany during an interview with EWTN.

“Whether it is a departure, heretical teaching and denial of one of the doctrines of the faith – or apostasy in the sense of simply falling away from Christ and his teaching in the Church to embrace another form of religion – those are crimes,” Burke said.

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He continued, “I mean, these are sins against Christ himself and, obviously, of the most serious nature. And the Code of Canon Law provides the appropriate penalties.”

Burke accused “revolutionaries” within the church of ignoring Vatican authority and turning a blind eye to Pope Francis’ opposition to their changes.

Last year, Pope Francis reminded the faithful in the country that the German bishops do not have the power to propagate a new theology or to modify the governance of the Church.

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Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller (r) stands during a consistory in St. Peter’s Basilica. (Johannes Neudecker/photo alliance via Getty Images)

In the message, the pope expressed concern for the laity and clergy of Germany if their leaders broke with established Church teaching. The statement claimed that Catholics would be negatively affected by the many proposed changes to the church being pushed by Cardinal Reinhard Marx and other liberal German leaders in their “synodal path.”

“In order to protect the freedom of the People of God and the exercise of the episcopal ministry, it seems necessary to specify that the “Synodal Way” in Germany does not have the power to compel the bishops and the faithful to adopt new ways of governance and new approaches to doctrine and morals,” the Holy See statement said.

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Pope Francis and German Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, Prefect of the Pontifical Household, during the weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall. ((photo by Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images))

He continues: “Before an agreement at the level of the universal Church, it would not be permitted to initiate new structures or official doctrines in the dioceses, which would represent a wound to ecclesial communion and a threat to the unity of the Church. .”

Müller took an equally harsh tone, demanding that German bishops be judged within the church and removed from office if they fail to standardize their teachings.

“There has to be a trial, and they have to be convicted, and they have to be removed from office if they don’t convert and if they don’t accept Catholic doctrine,” Müller said.

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Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and President of the German Episcopal Conference, celebrates the opening mass of the conference in the cathedral on September 25, 2018 in Fulda, western Germany. (ARNE DEDERT/DPA/AFP via Getty Images)

“[It] is very sad that a majority of bishops voted explicitly against the revealed doctrine, and the revealed faith of the Catholic Church and of all our Christian thought, against the Bible, the word of God in Sacred Scripture and in the apostolic tradition and in the defined doctrine of the Catholic Church,” said the German cardinal.

Last year, more than 100 bishops from around the world sent an open letter to the German bishops asking them to end the synod and refrain from making illicit changes.