Last week saw the publication of “In buona fede: La religione nel XXI secolo” (In Good Faith: Religion in the 21st Century), a book-length interview with German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, who spares no sharp criticism of the Holy Father and his despotic way of running the Vatican.
Rome went on high alert after the interview conducted by Franca Giansoldati, the Vatican Correspondent of the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.
The death of Benedict XVI and the publication of Cardinal Müller’s book are said to have revealed the worst side of Francis.
Pope Francis’ dictatorial and anti-faith attitude is leading to major fractures in light of the tenth anniversary of his pontificate, Müller writes in his book.
After the death of Benedict XVI, however, the conservative wing of the church apparently does not shy away from Pope Francis’ excesses.
The publication is already being compared to the crude account of Archbishop Georg Ganswein, Benedict’s private secretary.
The book by the German cardinal joins a series of texts that reveal a side of Francis that few want to see.
The main criticisms revolve around the authoritarian way Francis removes from their posts any ecclesiastical authority that appears to be “traditionalist” or “conservative” or does not agree in absolutely everything with his openly progressive and revolutionary vision of the Church.
His Holiness has also shown no mercy to those “ungrateful” who are not blindly loyal to him, as is the case of Müller, who was appointed Cardinal by Francis in 2014 and far from twisting his attitude towards Francis’ Third Worldist doctrine, he remained loyal to the traditional doctrine, which the recently deceased Cardinal Pell widely defended.
Staying true to his principles earned Müller his removal from his position as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and his replacement by a “friend” who does share his extreme left-wing vision.
It is no secret that Rome today is divided between the faithful followers of Francis and those traditionalists who identified with Benedict and Pell.
Now that both have passed away, all look to Müller as the leading figure in this space.
The strained relationship between Francis and Benedict was evidenced by Bergoglio’s attitude when his predecessor passed away.
Although he was emeritus, Ratzinger did not cease to be Pope, so he deserved the corresponding protocol honors, which Francis did not allow.
In short, no holiday was declared, so all Vatican employees could only participate in the funeral until noon.
The Vatican did not declare official mourning, so everything went on as if it were a normal day, without flags at half-mast, which was done in other countries.
Perhaps, Francis forgets that Benedict was, for 8 years, the head of the Vatican State, the Holy Father, and the leader of the traditionalists.
There was no official procession either, and Francis only participated in the funeral Mass, with an indolent attitude, like someone who bids farewell to the head of his opposition.
Today, Bergoglio surrounds himself with his friends, regardless of whether they are suitable to hold office or are accused of financial embezzlement or sexual abuse.
He seems to remember the words of a certain general of his country of origin who said, “to a friend everything; to the enemy, not even justice”.
The conservative portion of the Church mourns Benedict and Pell and suffers the advance of the unbridled progressivism to which Francis is subjecting the Church with an authoritarian power contrary to Christianity that does not seem to yield in the face of his advanced age and health problems.
Currently, Rome is buzzing with rumors of new restrictions on celebrating the traditional Mass, which seek to centralize the power of the Roman Curia further.
Whether true or not, what is certain is that the rumors are signs of a malaise that cracks the Church from within and leaves the question of whether it will be possible to reverse all the damage that Francis and his progressivism have done to the Clergy.
With information from LGI