Cardinal Gerhard Müller, emeritus prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, once again spoke firmly about the restrictions imposed on the Traditional Mass. During a question-and-answer session at the Call to Holiness Conference 2025, held in Michigan alongside exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger, he described it as “problematic” and “not pastoral” for some bishops to limit the celebration of the traditional Roman rite according to the 1962 Missal.
“Respecting the Faithful”: The Cardinal’s Claim
When asked about the episcopal authority to restrict the Traditional Mass, Müller recalled that the liturgical renewal promoted by the Second Vatican Council “has not been entirely successful” and that, consequently, bishops should show respect toward the faithful deeply attached to the traditional rite.
The cardinal emphasized that over two millennia the Church has developed various rites, but the essential structure of every authentic rite remains unchanged:
“The Council proposed a renewal, not a break. The continuity of Latin as a unifying element was part of that vision.”
Müller quoted Benedict XVI to remind that the priority is not external uniformity, but doctrinal unity:
“It is more important that the faithful believe all the dogmas of the Church than that they participate exactly in the same form of the Roman rite.”
Doctrinal Unity versus Ritual Uniformity
The cardinal warned that some bishops seem more interested in imposing a “unification of the rites” than in ensuring fidelity to Catholic doctrine and pointed out the danger of sacrificing the spiritual good of the faithful in the name of administrative criteria.
“A pastor cannot say: ‘We only offer the new form, and the rest can go away.’ That is not pastoral. A good pastor thinks first of the salvation of souls.”
The statements of Cardinal Müller thus return the discussion to its foundation: liturgy is not an administrative matter, but the path that leads to salvation.