German bishop appointed to head CDF

Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller

Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller of Regensburg, Germany has been appointed by Pope Benedict as the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Bishop Muller, whom the Pope elevated to archbishop, will also head the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the International Theological Commission and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which oversees Catholics who celebrate the traditional Latin Mass.

He will succeed Cardinal William Levada, who submitted his resignation upon reaching the age of 75.

Archbishop Muller was born in Mainz-Finthen in 1947. He was ordained a priest in 1978 and served as a chaplain and as a religion education teacher in secondary schools, according to the Diocese of Regensburg.

He earned his doctorate in 1977 on the subject of the Church, Sacraments and the thought of German Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Source: VIS