Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).
German Cardinal Gerhard Müller praised the “Christ-centered proclamation of the Gospel” throughout the first four months of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy in an interview with Rome-based Catholic journalist Diane Montagna.
“There is a more Christ-centered proclamation of the Gospel, greater order, and less emphasis on matters of secondary importance for the Church, such as migration, which is primarily the task of the state,” Müller said when asked about changes he’s seen in the Vatican amid Leo’s papacy.
“Certainly, the Church can assist through charitable works, but our first mission is to preach the Gospel to everyone and to evangelize those coming to Europe — not merely to provide material aid, but to give them the truth,” the cardinal said.
Müller expressed his belief that Leo “wishes to overcome this ideological polarization within the Church,” but added: “This cannot be achieved through compromise. We must speak the truth — and the truth inevitably divides people into those who follow the Word of God and those who do not.”
Montagna’s interview was published on Wednesday, Sept. 17, on Substack.
Müller’s comments came after Leo’s first sit-down interview as pope, with Crux senior correspondent Elise Ann Allen, was released this week.
“I don’t see my primary role as trying to be the solver of the world’s problems,” Leo said in the interview. “I don’t see my role as that at all, really, although I think that the Church has a voice, a message that needs to continue to be preached, to be spoken and spoken loudly.”
Müller’s concerns about ‘LGBT jubilee pilgrimage’
In his interview with Montagna, Müller expressed grave concerns about the LGBT jubilee pilgrimage in Rome earlier this month, led by American Jesuit Father James Martin. More than 1,000 pilgrims and about 30 priests attended the Mass concelebrated by Bishop Francesco Savino, vice president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference.
Montagna referenced a viral photograph of a homosexual couple holding hands, while one wore a backpack that read “[Expletive] the Rules.” The two walked through the Holy Doors with that message on display, which exacerbated the cardinal’s concerns.
Müller said this action “desecrated the temple of God,” and added: “The LGBT movement is absolutely against the will of God the Creator, who instituted marriage as a holy sacrament in Christ, and it is an absolute scandal that this occurred.”
“They abused the Catholic faith and the grace and symbol of the Holy Door — which is Jesus Christ — for the sake of propaganda, while living in open contradiction to the will of the Creator,” Müller said. “They denigrated the Church of God by obscene gestures and by their lifestyle.”
Müller cited St. Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.”
The cardinal encouraged Catholics to “consult the doctrine of the Church on matrimony and family” and referenced the first chapter of Part II of the Second Vatican Council’s Gaudium et Spes.
“As a dogmatic theologian I don’t want to be diplomatic,” Müller added. “The Catholic Church must proclaim the truth but also contradict lies. That is, we must not only positively explain the faith but also actively refute error.”
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Praise the Lord for Cardinal Müller’s courageous clarity during Rome’s modernist fog 2013-2025, and for his faithful firmity in the face of public scandal.
A light still shines in the darkness.