Vatican cardinal: it would be ‘anti-Catholic’ to let bishops’ conferences decide doctrine

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The idea that bishops’ conferences can take doctrinal decisions on marriage and the family is “absolutely anti-Catholic”, the Vatican’s doctrinal chief has said.
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In an exclusive interview with the French Catholic magazine Famille Chrétienne, Cardinal Gerhard Müller said: “This is an absolutely anti-Catholic idea that does not respect the catholicity of the Church. Episcopal conferences have authority over certain issues, but not a magisterium alongside the Magisterium, without the Pope and without communion with the bishops.”
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The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith also responded to recent remarks by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the president of the German bishops’ conference.
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catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/03/26/vatican-cardinal-it-would-be-anti-catholic-to-let-bishops-conferences-decide-doctrine/
 
Note the question Cardinal Muller responded to. The question asked by the interviewer also includes, according to this google translation, disciplinary decisions:
Some doctrinal or disciplinary decisions on marriage and the family can they be delegated to the bishops’ conferences?
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translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&nv=1&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.famillechretienne.fr/agir/vie-de-l-eglise/cardinal-mueller-l-eveque-doit-etre-un-martyr-par-la-parole-162532&usg=ALkJrhgPdegl1j82btouKyZKMrt23EWkyQ
 
Exactly - this has been addressed more than once by the Church:
We must not forget that episcopal conferences have no theological basis, they do not belong to the structure of the Church as willed by Christ that cannot be eliminated. They have only a practical, concrete function…The collective, therefore, does not substitute for the persons of the bishops, who are authentic teachers and instructors of the faith for the faithful entrusted to their care…**No episcopal conference as such, has a teaching mission, **its documents have no weight of their own save that given to them by individual bishops…it must one again become clear that in each diocese there is only one shepherd and teacher of the faith in communion with the other pastors and teachers and with the Vicar of Christ.
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~ The Ratzinger Report, 1995 and affirmed in Apostolos Suos in 1998 by JP II ~
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Canon 455 A conference of bishops can only issue general decrees in cases where universal law has prescribed it or a special mandate of the Apostolic See has established it either motu proprio or at the request of the conference itself.

§4. In cases in which neither universal law nor a special mandate of the Apostolic See has granted the power mentioned in §1 to a conference of bishops, the competence of each diocesan bishop remains intact, nor is a conference or its president able to act in the name of all the bishops unless each and every bishop has given consent.
 
Thank you Cardinal Muller.

Here’s a more full translation:

[FC:] In a book of conversations on the family [The Hope of the Family, Ignatius Press; La speranza della famiglia, Edizioni Ares], recently published in Italy and in the United States, you encourage Christians to, “choose the prophetic boldness of martyrdom.” Why?

[Müller:] The Church is not a philanthopic organization. To say that we respect the opinions of all, that we wish for the good of all, is not enough. To present the Gospel as a simple therapeutic message is not very hard, but it does not respond to the demands of Jesus. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me," Jesus says. The first apostles, the Fathers of the Church, the great bishops in the History of the Church very often sailed against opposing winds. How could it be any different for us?

[FC:] Could certain doctrinal or disciplinary decisions on marriage and family be delegated to the episcopal conferences?
[Müller:] It is an absolutely anti-Catholic idea that does not respect the Catholicity of the Church. Episcopal conferences have authority on certain matters, but they are not a magisterium beside the Magisterium, without the Pope and without communion with all bishops.

[FC:] Recently, a German bishop [Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference] said that the episcopal conference that he chairs is not a “branch of Rome.” What do you think of this?

[Müller:] An episcopal conference is not a particular council, even less so an ecumenical council. The president of an episcopal conference is nothing more than a technical moderator, and he does not have any particular magisterial authority due to this title. Hearing that an episcopal conference is not a “branch of Rome” gives me the occasion to recall that dioceses are not the branches of the secretariat of a bishops’ conference either, nor of the diocese whose bishop presides over the episcopal conference. This kind of attitude risks in fact the reawakening of a certain polarization between the local Churches and the Church universal, out of date since the Vatican I and Vatican II councils. The Church is not a sum of national churches, whose presidents would vote to elect their chief on the universal level.
 
The reason why the German church is acting differently I think is tied to their huge wealth and tax agreement with government. In theory the added wealth should give them the resources to spread and to give immersive Catholicism but have they? Church attendance has been going down, the whole church seems very bureaucratized with high salaries, and a lot of changes they are pushing seem to be designed not to uphold doctrine but rather to keep people checking catholic on their taxes. That tied in with the whole situation of refusing sacraments in a pay to play like system.
 
This is good. Thank you Cardinal Muller. We are at a very critical moment in the world. Clear statements drawing on the totality of the Magesterium and Church history are important. It may be a rough ride from here on out between the world and the Church, but as long as we have brave Bishops willing to stand fast, we will survive. It is also a catechetical moment for the Faithful, to re-educate themselves on the Church and Her tenants.
 
boar2roar said:
The reason why the German church is acting differently I think is tied to their huge wealth and tax agreement with government. In theory the added wealth should give them the resources to spread and to give immersive Catholicism but have they? Church attendance has been going down, the whole church seems very bureaucratized with high salaries, and a lot of changes they are pushing seem to be designed not to uphold doctrine but rather to keep people checking catholic on their taxes. That tied in with the whole situation of refusing sacraments in a pay to play like system.
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I certainly don’t know how the churches are organized in Germany, but if they’re similar to the ones in the U.S., laymen often have as much or more influence on what gets done and said than the priests and bishops do or say. Church organizations in the U.S. don’t pay all that well, but perhaps they do in Germany, in which case one expects that there are some very handsome salaries paid to a lot of laymen and women, some of whom actually run things and dominate communications.
 
I do not see any contradiction between the two bishops and think both contribute to the boundaries and the challenges of addressing local pastoral needs with universal doctrine. Bishop Mueller says that the comment risks the “reawakening of a certain polarisation between the local Churches and the Church universal, out of date since the Vatican I and Vatican II councils.” I guess this has traditionally been a point of contention that has no place in the modern era of international connectedness.
 
pnewton said:
I do not see any contradiction between the two bishops and think both contribute to the boundaries and the challenges of addressing local pastoral needs with universal doctrine. Bishop Mueller says that the comment risks the “reawakening of a certain polarisation between the local Churches and the Church universal, out of date since the Vatican I and Vatican II councils.” ** I guess this has traditionally been a point of contention that has no place in the modern era of international connectedness.**
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??
I see Cardinal Muller upholding the perennial Teaching of the Church. And Cardinal Marx suggesting that the German Church is semi autonomous. Am I missing something?

And did I misread the second bold comment? Are you suggesting that in the modern era subservience of the individual Bishops conferences is no longer necessary?
 
Pulvis said:
??
I see Cardinal Muller upholding the perennial Teaching of the Church. And Cardinal Marx suggesting that the German Church is semi autonomous. Am I missing something?
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As to this point, I did not see where Cardinal Marx is suggesting the German Church is semi autonomous, but I really do not know what you mean by that word. I would say that not only does the Church have to have universal doctrine, but also universal canon law and liturgical norms, though I note in some areas deviations are allowed. However, the individual bishops do exercise autonomy in some areas, which is why I thought the phrase semi-autonomous might be okay.

As to the second part, I meant that the opposite is true, at least based on what Cardinal Mueller said. Since Vatican II the polarization between national and universal Church has not been much of an issue. He did not want to see this old problem become a problem now. In this instance, modernity has* helped *the Church be more universal. Communication is easier across languages and cultures. Education is more easily accessed. In the past, greater nationalism existed because of the greater communication distance. Now, the world has “shrunk”, so to speak.

Maybe the world is still a big place though, in some respects. For example, I have no idea what Cardinal Marx meant by “set its own policies”, though according to the article he was not referring to the episcopal conference, but “German bishops”. Bishops do have a lot of say in diocesan policies. For example, bishop could set strict time limits on tribunals, say three months unless a waiver is obtained from the bishop, and one week on the review process.
 
pnewton said:
Sure, but in dealing with the doctrine of the Church, I do not see where this is an issue.
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It seems to me it’s exactly doctrine (or misrepresentation thereof) which is the basis for these discussions. I know that I myself get confused when I see how the doctrines and dogmatic decrees of Trent (among other things) have played out up to this point.
 
Pulvis said:
This is good. Thank you Cardinal Muller. We are at a very critical moment in the world. Clear statements drawing on the totality of the Magesterium and Church history are important. It may be a rough ride from here on out between the world and the Church, but as long as we have brave Bishops willing to stand fast, we will survive. It is also a catechetical moment for the Faithful, to re-educate themselves on the Church and Her tenants.
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Maybe I am getting too optimistic here, but it seems like Pope Francis is reigning this whole debate in a little bit. The tone of the discussion is moving back to the center, by that I mean “orthodoxy.” Mueller’s comments here are along those lines.

It is actually quite possible the Kasper proposal has seen its day. Time (and/or the Holy Spirit), whatever you want to call it, is diffusing it.
 
Ridgerunner said:
I certainly don’t know how the churches are organized in Germany, but if they’re similar to the ones in the U.S., laymen often have as much or more influence on what gets done and said than the priests and bishops do or say. Church organizations in the U.S. don’t pay all that well, but perhaps they do in Germany, in which case one expects that there are some very handsome salaries paid to a lot of laymen and women, some of whom actually run things and dominate communications.
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In Germany there is forced taxation that is then sent to the various churches in the country. The determination of who gets those funds depends upon what you are listed as on the government rolls. So even while the Catholic attendance has plummeted in Germany, their collections have remained somewhat stable from this setup. But now people are starting to opt out, and change their affiliation to another denomination or to “none”. The German bishops want to keep the money rolling in, so they want to allow divorced and remarried people the ability to receive Communion because they think this will stabilize their numbers or even increase them.

They are concerned about the money coming in.
 
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