“The Pope is not a Führer,” Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller said in a recent interview. The prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith described the veneration of the private and political opinions of Pope Francis as “heresy,” and said that criticizing it was his “duty.” “It is a criticism of Protestants that we have made the Pope the second God,” he continued. Cardinal Müller warned that “now, five hundred years later”, some Catholics, through their lack of restraint, vindicate such critics. To correct this tendency, Cardinal Müller said Catholics need a better understanding of history and must recognize the precarious context in which the pope-cult emerged.
