OSV. German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Vatican Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 to 2017, spoke with OSV News briefly as he wound down a three-week visit to the United States with a quick stop at a health care ethics seminar hosted by the National Catholic Bioethics Center in suburban Philadelphia.

Of the Synod on Synodality going on now he said,

“It is not a homogeneous assembly and therefore the canonical status of this assembly is not clear,” the cardinal said, because it is made up of not only bishops but also consecrated men and women and lay people. The worldwide Synod of Bishops takes place in Rome every three to four years with only bishops as voting members. In a decision formalized April 17, 2023, “the Holy Father approved the extension of participation in the synodal assembly to ‘non-bishops’ — priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, lay men and women.”

“In an attempt to keep the synod informed, the papally appointed study groups or committees will give interim reports to the delegates. The topics being studied by the committees include ecumenical dialogue, the formation of priests, the role of bishops and papal representatives, theological questions on ministries and “controversial doctrinal, pastoral and ethical questions.” Women deacons will be studied under the rubric of “ministries,” while LGBTQ+ issues will be studied under the rubric of “the circular relationship between doctrine and pastoral care.” –ReligionNews.com

Cardinal Víctor Fernández reaffirms Pope Francis’ position against women’s access to the diaconate, an issue that will continue to be evaluated by a specialized commission while the Synod on Synodality continues to reflect on the role of women in the Church outside of ordained ministry. 

“It cannot be that all are giving counsel and speaking together and the pope remains as the only authority who decides according to his own parameters and not according to the revelation, the revealed Truth. That is the wrong perspective,” said Cardinal Müller. The Synod of Bishops on Synodality, called by Pope Francis starting in 2021, is a multiyear, multiphase series of meetings comprised of “listening, communion and multiyear, multiphase series of meetings comprised of “listening, communion and participation.” See more

See also, Cardinal Müller challenges Pope Francis

Meanwhile, further down the Rabbit Hole, Making war on the Church

.Catholic thinker and apologist Trent Horn writes,”Pope Francis announced that he would be elevating 21 men to the office of Cardinal and one of them is a Dominican priest named Fr. Timothy Radcliffe. He’s created controversy with his past statements about homosexuality so I wanted to go through a recent article he wrote for Fr. Martin’s Outreach magazine and show what’s so pernicious about his rhetoric. And after that, I’ll give some brief thoughts about Pope Francis selecting him to be a cardinal.

First, like Fr. Martin, Fr. Radcliffe will talk out of both sides of his mouth making it seem like he’s perfectly orthodox. For example, some people quote him as saying regarding homosexuality, “I am convinced of the fundamental wisdom of the Church’s teaching” but they then leave out what he says next, “but I do not yet fully understand how this is to be lived by young gay Catholics who accept their sexuality and rightly long to express their affection.

”This can mean that he doesn’t know what positive steps a person should take in spite of this difficult cross to carry, or it could mean there is a way to express homosexual conduct that accords with some abstract fundamental principle like love your neighbor. Indeed, Fr. Radcliffe has previously disagreed with the Church’s policies on not allowing gay men to become priests and he wrote an article saying that in order to understand gay people we must do things like watch Brokeback mountain, a film about a gay adulterous relationship between two married cowboys.In 2013 he contributed to a report from the Church of England where he wrote:How does all this bear on the question of gay sexuality? We cannot begin with the question of whether it is permitted or forbidden! We must ask what it means, and how far it is Eucharistic.

Certainly it can be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual and non-violent. So in many ways I think it can be expressive of Christ’s self-gift.

Cool, now do adultery, polyamory which is open adultery, masturbation, and bestiality. A person can be polite and still engage in perversion.

Romans 1…²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.