Pope Taps German Theologian to Head Orthodoxy Office; Mueller a Friend of Liberation Theology

Washington Post
July 2, 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/pope-taps-german-theologian-to-head-orthodoxy-office-mueller-a-friend-of-liberation-theology/2012/07/02/gJQAT5poHW_story.html

VATICAN CITY — The pope named Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller to head the Vatican's all-important orthodoxy office Monday, tapping a German theologian like himself to head the congregation he presided over for nearly a quarter-century enforcing Catholic doctrine.

The 64-year-old Regensburg bishop replaces American Cardinal William Levada, who turned 76 last month and is retiring after seven years at the helm of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the former Holy Office.

While Mueller is considered a staunchly orthodox, conservative theologian — he has penned some 400 academic articles and founded an institute to publish all the pope's writings — some of his positions have raised eyebrows in Rome and abroad.

Chief among them is his friendship with the Rev. Gustavo Gutierrez, the Peruvian priest considered the founder of liberation theology, the Marxist-influenced theology advocating for the poor.

Pope Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, spent much of his tenure at the congregation battling liberation theology, arguing that it misinterpreted Jesus' preference for the poor into a call for rebellion.

Mueller was a student of Gutierrez, wrote a book with him on liberation theology in 2004 and in 2008 was given an honorary degree at the Pontifical University of Lima, where he delivered a speech "My experiences with Liberation Theology."

He has also served on several ecumenical committees, including being named the chief Catholic negotiator in theological talks with Lutherans.

None of this has endeared him to traditionalist, archconservative Catholics, who have for the most part championed Benedict's conservative line and raised questions about Mueller's appointment, which has been rumored for months.

In addition to handling clerical sex abuse cases, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is responsible for negotiating with a group of traditionalist Catholics, the Society of St. Pius X, which split from Rome over the liberalizing reforms of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council.

Among other things, Vatican II called for outreach with other Christians, something the society rejects.

Benedict has made numerous concessions to try to reconcile with the society, and just last month offered its members a special legal status within the church if they were to come into full communion with Rome. But the superior, Bishop Bernard Fellay, has said more talks are necessary and that things were at a "dead end."

In a bid to nudge the negotiations forward — and perhaps blunt any negative reaction to a Mueller appointment — Benedict last week tapped a trusted colleague to be the congregation's No. 2 negotiator with the society.

The appointment of the American Dominican theologian, Monsignor Augustine Di Noia, was accompanied by an unusual statement from the congregation stressing Di Noia's credentials in interpreting Vatican II not as a rupture from the past as liberals believe but as a continuation with the great traditions of Catholicism.

Mueller is a longtime friend of Benedict's and in 2008 founded a diocesan institute, the "Pope Benedict XVI Institute" to publish a 16-volume compilation of the "Collected Writings of Joseph Ratzinger."

The two Germans served together on the International Theological Commission, which Ratzinger headed when he was prefect of the congregation, and Mueller has been an adviser to the congregation for years.

Ratzinger attended his 2002 consecration when he was named bishop of Regensburg, and Mueller hosted the pope during his now-infamous 2006 visit to Regensburg, where Benedict delivered a speech in which riled Muslims around the globe. In it, Benedict quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor connecting Islam with violence.

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At the congregation, Mueller will find a host of unfinished business: In addition to talks with the breakaway traditionalists, he inherits the clerical sex abuse portfolio, which grew exponentially in 2010 with the explosion of cases in Europe, including his native Germany.

Mueller himself was largely spared condemnation for mishandling any individual cases, but the German bishops' conference — like every other bishops conference in the world — was forced to report back to the congregation in May about guidelines for dealing with abuse cases and prevention strategies.

Mueller also must deal with the congregation's crackdown on the largest group of American nuns, the Leadership Conference for Women Religious, whom the congregation under Levada had accused of straying too far from church doctrine.

Levada, who was brought into the ex-Holy Office in 2005 after Benedict became pope, launched the investigation in 2009 and its findings have embittered many American Catholics against what they perceive as heavy-handed tactics by Rome against U.S. sisters who provide critical health care, education and other services for the poor.

In a statement Monday, the head of the German Bishops Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, said bishops in the pope's homeland were proud that Mueller would be performing "this important task."

"He is one of the most distinguished theologians of the present time," Zollitsch said, adding that he has led the conference's ecumenical commission for several years "with success and great sensitivity."

Mueller's best-known work is a 900-page tome "Catholic Dogmatics: For the Study and Practice of Theology."