Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller has warned that the expansion of Islam in Europe coincides with a profound identity crisis in the West, which is abandoning its Christian roots. “Muslims do not respect a weak Christianity that is ashamed of the Cross and reduces itself to a charitable organization or an environmental watchdog body,” stated the prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Müller made these remarks in a prepared address for the Tavole di Assisi 2026, a gathering held on September 5 and 6 in Assisi, Italy, and organized by a committee chaired by former Italian senator Simone Pillon. According to the text of the conference, accessed by The Catholic Herald, the cardinal addressed the secularization of the West, the expansion of Islam, and the need to recover the missionary character of Christianity.
An “internal apostasy” in the West
The German prelate maintains that the West is undergoing “an unprecedented identity crisis” that cannot be explained solely by external threats.
“Christianity in the West is no longer merely threatened by external forces; it is being eroded by an internal apostasy,” he stated.
Müller links this process to what he calls the “triumph of posthumanism,” a conception he describes as “a nihilistic ideology” that, in seeking to emancipate man from God, ultimately destroys the very conception of the human being.
In his view, this vision reduces the person “to manipulable matter, to an algorithm among algorithms,” ultimately stripping the individual of dignity as a creature made “in the image and likeness of the Creator.”
The cardinal believes that this internal weakening is compounded by the “vigorous expansion of Islam”, precisely as Western societies progressively renounce the religious convictions that historically shaped them.
“Muslims do not respect a weak Christianity”
Müller draws a distinction between Islam and a secularized West. The former, he argues, “is not ashamed of God, is not ashamed of transcendence,” although it proposes “an anthropology and a revelation radically different from those of Christianity.”
In that context, he placed one of the main warnings of his address:
“Muslims do not respect a weak Christianity that is ashamed of the Cross and reduces itself to a charitable organization or an environmental watchdog body. They respect those who believe.”
For Müller, the spiritual vacuum left by secularization allows Islam to present itself to some Europeans as “a solid rock,” especially in the face of contemporary attempts to “redefine human nature, marriage, life, and death.”
However, he rejects the notion that Islam can provide a response to this crisis. “The answer to nihilism is not fundamentalism, but Christ, the incarnate Logos,” he stated in his address.
St. Francis before the Sultan
A central part of the conference was devoted to the encounter between St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade.
Müller questioned contemporary interpretations that present that episode primarily as a precedent for interreligious dialogue or pacifism, downplaying the saint’s evangelizing intent.
“A certain sentimental and relativistic current has portrayed St. Francis as a precursor of modern syncretism, a prophet of pacifist dialogue as an end in itself, where all religions are equivalent and none possesses the truth,” he stated.
The cardinal described this portrayal as “a historical and theological falsification.”
Francis, he maintained, did not go before the sultan “to inaugurate a diplomatic salon or to confirm him in his faith,” but was moved by “love for souls and by the unshakable certainty that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of humanity.”
The Tavole di Assisi themselves had placed this interpretation of St. Francis among the central issues of this year’s edition, reclaiming the missionary character of his encounter with the Muslim ruler.
Müller calls for a dialogue that does not conceal Christian identity
The prefect emeritus of the Doctrine of the Faith maintains that interreligious dialogue does not require Christians to silence what they consider true.
“Interreligious dialogue, if it is to be authentic and respectful of human dignity, cannot be based on concealing one’s own identity,” he noted.
Müller then returns to the example of St. Francis: in his view, the saint showed respect toward the sultan precisely because he spoke openly from his own faith and was willing to risk his life for what he proclaimed.
Hence, he considers it “crucial” to recover that missionary disposition today. “It is not only valid, but urgent and indispensable,” he stated.
For the cardinal, Christian charity toward those who profess another religion cannot be separated from the proclamation of what the Church considers true. Therefore, in contrast to a conception of dialogue reduced to coexistence or mutual understanding, he once again emphasizes evangelization and conversion as elements proper to the Church’s mission.
“The West has lost faith because it has lost reason”
Müller linked secularization to a broader crisis in the Western conception of man.
“The West has lost its faith because it has lost its reason,” he stated.
According to the cardinal, the abandonment of the Christian faith has been accompanied by approaches that question fundamental categories regarding human nature. In the face of this “spiritual vacuum,” he argues, a religion that maintains firm convictions can become attractive to those seeking certainties.
But Müller rules out that the alternative lies in “a creed that separates faith from reason or that conceives divine omnipotence as pure arbitrariness.”
His proposal is for Europe to rediscover “the value of mission” and recover the centrality of Christ.
“The West will be saved from posthumanism and will not be assimilated by other religions if it recovers the value of mission,” he stated.
“Outside of Jesus Christ there is no salvation”
The cardinal concluded by calling on Christians to openly proclaim once again the social kingship of Christ and the uniqueness of Christian salvation.
For Müller, the response both to Western nihilism and to the growth of other religions does not consist in reducing the demands of the faith, but in recovering the missionary proclamation.
In that context, he upheld the affirmation that “outside of Jesus Christ there is no salvation” and directed his appeal not only to Muslims, but first and foremost to Christians themselves and to a Europe that, in his words, has renounced its roots.
“Only if the West once again places God at the center will man once again be truly human,” he concluded.