25. Februar 2025 in English
Gerhard Cardinal Müller: In this time of worry about the sick Pope, "it is about reflecting on the essence of the service of Peter that Christ gave to his Church." KATH.NET interview by Petra Lorleberg
Rome (kath.net/pl) The Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller, took part in the rosary prayer in St. Peter's Square for the seriously ill Pope Francis, which was arranged at short notice the day before (kath.net reported). KATH.NET asked him for his assessment.
kath.net: Your Eminence, would you like to tell us your subjective impression of yesterday's rosary prayer for the Pope in St. Peter's Square?
Gerhard Cardinal Müller: It was very dignified and pious. Praying the Rosary introduces us to the mysteries of the life of Jesus, our Savior, the only mediator between God and humanity.
For us Christians, illness and death are not the ultimate catastrophe, as they are for the nihilists and skeptics, the materialists and atheists who have no hope.
In reality, the earthly life of man, with its endless longing for freedom and love, does not end in total frustration, because existence has an absolute meaning and the spirit calls for the highest knowledge, which is revealed to us in faith in the Word of God made man. The human, fallible reason (Logos) is encompassed by the divine, always infallible reason and is rewarded with the presence of God in his Son Jesus Christ, from whose "from his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace" (John 1:16).
kath.net: Are you worried about our Pope?
Cardinal Müller: As a human being (and non-medical professional), I have no influence on his age and state of health. "Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty," (Ps 90:10), experience tells us.
When a child or young person is ill, we rightly think more about physical recovery than when an old person is ill.
But we always pray for temporal well-being and eternal salvation together, entrusting the whole person to God.
But the supernatural prospect is comprehensive: "It is appointed for man to die once, and then comes judgment..." (Heb 9:27). This is the focus of our prayer for a person of advanced age, in which the saints of heaven and the faithful of the Church still on pilgrimage on earth unite with Christ, their head, who stands before God "as our advocate with the Father" (1 John 2:1).
kath.net: Cardinal, do you see it as our current task as Catholics to put aside the church-political disputes and pray shoulder to shoulder for our Holy Father?
Cardinal Müller: This hour is not about power games, self-recommendations and candidate races, but about reflecting on the essence of the ministry of Peter that Christ gave to his Church.
The unity of the Church lies in the revealed truth and must not be damaged in political-ideological (conservative / progressive) trench warfare.
Paul writes to the Corinthians: "It has been reported to me that there is strife and contention among you: I mean that each of you says something different: I am for Paul; I for Apollos; I for Cephas/Peter; I for Christ: is Christ divided?" (1 Cor 1: 11f).
So let's not keep our fingers crossed for one of our favorite candidates (as if in a competition for a fleeting prize) and let's not make personnel policy based on the horoscopes of journalists and completely unchurch-minded politicians who see the Vatican as nothing more than a power factor on the world political stage.
Instead, let's pray that the Lord will give his Church good shepherds after the heart of Jesus and that he will especially direct the thoughts of the cardinals to the good of the Church and make them immune to thinking in purely worldly terms.
kath.net: Do you already know whether other cardinals are currently arriving or preparing to arrive?
Cardinal Müller: No, I don't know anything about that. People can pray for Pope Francis everywhere in the Christian hope that all of our lives are in God's hands alone, who will graciously receive us.
And it is important to reflect not in terms of human power, but spiritually and theologically on the universal pastoral office that Jesus entrusted to St. Peter and his successors on his Roman cathedra.
Yesterday's rosary prayer for Pope Francis
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