Marriage, the curia, and the firing of three priests at the Vatican—  what’s really going on under Pope Francis?

Raymond Arroyo, host of “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” on EWTN, sat down with Gerhard Cardinal Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, to discuss a number of topics. (Arroyo is also editor-at-large of LifeZette.)

“We must lead them as good pastors.”

Close

Müller spoke out about the seemingly arbitrary firing of three priests from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The recent report of this had the faithful reeling.

“It is true that I am in favor of a better treatment of our officials in the Holy See, because we cannot only speak about the social doctrine, we must also respect it. The pope himself said we [have] some old behaviors of the courts and I am absolutely against these treatments. I think we can dismiss only people if they make a mistake,” Müller said of the firings.

“The criteria for our collaborators and congregation must be the orthodoxy and integrity of moral and priestly life,” he continued.

The two also discussed the topic currently causing some controversy because of misinterpretation over an apostolic exhortation called Amoris laetitia in 2016.

During the discussion, Gerhard Cardinal Müller said, “It is not good that the bishop’s conference is making official interpretation of the pope — that is not Catholic. They have this document of the pope and [it] must be read in the context of the complete Catholic tradition.”

Confirming that the pope is infallible according to Catholic teaching, Müller did not suggest the pope was in error; instead, he shared a note of caution about taking the words in the entire context of Catholicism. No pope can change the word of Jesus, he added, and said that nothing involving the sanctity of marriage has been challenged.

“We encourage divorced persons who wish to marry in the Catholic Church to seek counsel about the options that exist to remedy their situation, including the suitability of a declaration of nullity when there is no longer any hope of reconciliation of the spouses,” noted the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Related: On Divorce, Remarriage and the Sacraments, Church Leaders Are Split

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

“The eighth chapter of the exhortation deals with how the church should treat couples that live in so-called ‘irregular situations,’ such as those who have been civilly remarried without obtaining annulments of their first marriages,” the National Catholic Reporter reported. “In the past, such couples had been barred from taking Communion.”

In the Catholic faith, if a marriage does not meet certain requirements to be a “sacramental marriage,” an annulment may be granted for the couple.

“We must lead them as good pastors until … [such] point that they could accept completely the Christian doctrine and Christian life and our understanding,” Gerhard Cardinal Müller said.

Marriage is between one man and one woman, according to the biblical understanding of marriage and the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Related: Love, Dating and Marriage Among the Young in 2017: Rare and Beautiful

The cardinal released a new book, “The Cardinal Müller Report,” in February 2017.

Watch the full conversation below between Müller and Arroyo on Amoris laetitia, marriage and communion — and the disagreement within the Catholic Church.

[lz_third_party includes=https://www.facebook.com/ewtnonline/videos/vb.34701792581/10154762338092582/?type=2&theater]

This piece has been updated.