New head of CDF hopes to reduce tensions in the Church

Archbishop Gerhard Müller

Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, new head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), says he sees the polarization between traditionalists and progressives as the most important challenge faced by the Church.

In an interview with Vatican Radio's Fr Bernd Hagenkord SJ on Tuesday, Archbishop Müller said: "I do not believe I was summoned by the Holy Father to fill a bureaucratic post and carry out - so to speak - a bureaucratic task, but as a theologian. So above all, I asked myself; what ails the life of the Church?

"In many countries, there is a strong polarization: Traditionalists against progressives or whatever you would call them. This must be overcome, we need to find a new and fundamental unity in the Church and individual countries.

"Unity in Christ, not a unity produced according to a program and later invoked by a partisan speaker. We are not a community of people aligned to a party program, or a community of scientific research, our unity is gifted to us. We believe in the one Church united in Christ. And if you believe in Christ, really believe - not manipulating the teachings of the Church, or singling out individual points to support your own personal ideology, but rather unconditionally entrusting yourself to Christ - then the unity of the Church is also important. Then the Church will not be - as it is sometimes described in Scripture - torn apart by jealousy and ambition. This is my underlying aim: To reduce the tensions within the Church "

Source: Vatican Radio