Pope Francis with Bishop Heiner Wilmer of Hildesheim on 17 October 2022. Will Wilmer become the new Prefect of the Church?
(Rome) Should the Church really recover from the German creature? So it seems. In the past, however, this was already associated with blessings and curses. After the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been led most of the time by Germans over the past 40 years with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and Gerhard Cardinal Müller, a German is now to step again at the head of the most important Roman Congregation in matters of faith, which has been renamed a Dicastery, since last July.
However, the journey should now go in a completely different direction. Pope Francis is known for this unless certain necessity forces him to look for the most progressive candidates. After he got rid of the Prefect of the Faith Müller in 2017 without naming a reason that he had yet to take over from Benedict XVI, the Church in the Federal Republic of Germany got out of hand. The progressives have been great ever since. They set sail and set sail to reach other shores, especially homosexuals.
The flag of the ordination of women was also hoisted in second place on the main mast, which – from a theological point of view – is understandable since it also has to do with homosexuality.
Unity or truth?
Instead of the Church flag to identify themselves safely from afar, they wanted to raise another one. However, one did not think of the German national colors of 1848, which a Martin Luther would not have wrapped himself in if he had already known about it, nor the EU flag, or even better a world flag. As such, the gay flag seems to be particularly popular in certain circles at the moment. The drive that is supposed to provide the wind is called: Synodal Way.
In order not to endanger the unity of the Church, which is a high good, but must not stand higher than the truth, Pope Francis admonished the high-spirited Germans to take some time. In return, he adopted the synodal path for the whole universal Church and called it the synodal process. So everything will go a little slower, but in unity. This is Santa Marta's approach, which stops at the formal level, but says nothing about the content level. But what about the truths of faith? Will they become predators of German dissidents? Is there even congruence in the point of view?
Is it more important to defend the truth and ward off gay heresy, or to preserve unity at the price of the homo-heresiarchs prevailing not only in Germany, but worldwide? However, a mandate for unity in apostasy cannot be derived anywhere from Sacred Scripture and Tradition.
For the time being, it is only a rumor, and must be treated with due restraint. However, the very fact that there is such a rumour is frightening enough. The information comes from Messa in Latino, a traditional site with much, though not always accurate, information from the Vatican. The site refers to sources "at the highest level". Pope Francis, however, is unpredictable until the last second, who even in his closest environs overturns plans that were already believed to be in place.
According to Messa's sources, Msgr. Heiner Wilmer SCJ is to become the new Prefect of the Dicastery of the Faith (formerly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). Msgr. Wilmer has been Bishop of Hildesheim appointed by Francis since 2018. Previously, the farmer's son from Emsland was Superior General of the Sacred Heart Priests, who are better known outside the German-speaking world as Dehonians. The Dehonians, on the other hand, especially in Italy, where they have a focus, are an ultra-progressive order. This call also hangs on Bishop Wilmer. For this it is sufficient to hear his defense of the theologian Eugen Drewermann, who was condemned by the Church. However, here, too, he follows in the footsteps of someone else.
It was Pope Francis who rehabilitated Drewermann in an irritatingly bizarre catechesis without ever mentioning him by name. With the Judas catechesis of Francis, which is based on an arbitrary Drewermann interpretation of a column capital in the basilica of Vézelay, he opened the door to a variant of the erroneous doctrine of universal salvation. Even more decisive is the rehabilitation of the German rebel theologian, who threw his priesthood into the nettles and even left the Church in 2005.
Cardinal Ladaria has been a Prefect of the Faith on call for months
The mandate of the incumbent Prefect of the Faith Luis Cardinal Ladaria Ferrer SJ expired on 30 June 2022. Pope Francis tacitly leaves him in office, as is customary in the Roman Curia. This means, however, that the Pope can dismiss him at any time and appoint a successor without becoming brute.
Wilmer was enthroned as Bishop of Hildesheim on 1 September 2018. When the new bishop ingratiated himself with the non-church media, he went so far as to claim in a ludicrous interview with the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger on December 14, 2018:
"The abuse of power is in the DNA of the Church."
Last January, Wilmer praised the gay campaign of 125 church employees who professed to be homosexual. In the meantime, not least with Wilmer's support, the labor law of Church employees has been changed so that homosexuality is now "in". And priestly celibacy "shines" even more beautifully, according to Wilmer, if it is not mandatory.
Four weeks ago, Wilmer was in Rome with his German confreres for an ad limina visit. He was only one of 62 when he was received in audience by Francis on November 17. The Roman admonitions of Cardinal Ladaria and Bishop Prefect Ouellet were obviously not heard or understood by the President of the German Bishops' Conference Georg Bätzing.
A month earlier, however, on October 17, Bishop Wilmer had already been in Rome. On this occasion he was received in audience alone by Pope Francis. According to the Vatican rumor, Francis informed him on this occasion that he wanted to appoint him as the new Prefect of the Faith of the Holy Church.
KNA, the press agency of the German bishops, reported at the time:
"The Bishop of Hildesheim is considered to be well connected in Rome."
The press office of the diocese of Hildesheim announced that the conversation had been "among other things about the German synodal way". In addition, reference was made to Wilmer's position as President of the Commission for Social and Social Issues of the German Bishops' Conference "and as head of the German Commission Justitia et Pax". But these are at best sideshows that are no reason for an official audience with the Pope.
In the run-up, Francis had already listened to other German bishops – Hesse, Genn, Overbeck, Cardinal Marx, Timmerevers and Meier – individually, in order to obviously influence the synodal path, whose pace and rhythm he tries to reconcile with his synodal process, but probably also to capture moods, to collect first-hand information and also to get a personal impression of to make individual.
A few days after his return from Rome, Wilmer presented himself as a pugnacious progressive, who announced:
"The Church does not need reforms, but real conversion."
Commenting on the recent Vatican rumor of such an appointment, Messa in Latino said:
"Unfortunately, if confirmed, this would be a terrible Christmas present from Santa Marta, as it would also confirm the ultra-progressive positions of the infamous German 'Synodal Way'. Instead of the Christmas season, we seem to be entering a late winter for the Church."
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: VaticanMedia/Wikicommons/Synod.va/Vatican.va (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
