Amoris laetitia Following the publication of the post-synodal
apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia of
Pope Francis, Müller stated that the
Pope did not need to be corrected for false doctrine. Interviewed on 9 January 2017, Müller said that
Amoris laetitia was "very clear" in its teaching. Müller said that
Pope Francis asks priests He said that in
Amoris laetitia he "do[es] not see any opposition: On one side we have the clear doctrine on matrimony, and on the other the obligation of the church to care for these people in difficulty." However, in a second interview, Müller was asked whether the teaching reaffirmed in
Familiaris consortio of
Pope John Paul II, which linked the
Eucharist to
marriage, remains valid.
Pope John Paul II stated that the divorced and civilly remarried were proscribed from the reception of
Holy Communion, except possibly when they determine to live "in complete continence". Müller said of this condition that, "Of course, it is not dispensable, because it is not only a positive law of John Paul II, but he expressed an essential element of Christian moral theology and the theology of the sacraments." Müller also stated that "
Amoris Laetitia must clearly be interpreted in the light of the whole doctrine of the Church." He has further stated that "I don't like it[;] it is not right that so many bishops are interpreting
Amoris Laetitia according to their way of understanding the Pope's teaching. This does not keep to the line of Catholic doctrine."
Abortion Müller has criticized politicians who support
abortion rights, including US President
Joe Biden. He has stated that "To demand abortion as a human right cannot be surpassed in its inhuman cynicism."
Doctrinal immutability Müller has defended the immutability of Catholic doctrine from the attempt to adapt it to contemporary lifestyles, which attempt might be described as
aggiornamento. He stated that such an approach introduces
subjectivism and arbitrariness. In an interview with
Die Tagespost, he claimed that placing "lived realities" on the same level as scripture and
tradition is "nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology." His comments have been interpreted as criticism of the "shadow council" when bishops and experts from
Germany,
France, and
Switzerland met in
Rome to discuss how the church could adapt its pastoral approach to contemporary culture, especially contemporary opinions of human sexuality.
Liberation theology In an interview by the German daily
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Müller said that
Pope Francis "is not so much a liberation theologian in the academic sense but, as far as pastoral work is concerned, he has close ties with liberation theology's concerns. What we can learn from him is the insight that there is no pastoral work without profound theology and vice versa." In the 1980s, the CDF under then-Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger attacked certain forms of liberation theology as borrowing "from various currents of Marxist thought". During a visit to
Peru in 1988, then-professor Müller discussed it with his friend and teacher
Gustavo Gutiérrez, regarded as the father of Latin American
liberation theology, who convinced him of its orthodoxy. Müller explained that liberation theology focused on orthopraxis, "the correct way of acting in a Christian fashion since it comes from true faith", Müller said: "How can we speak of the love and mercy of God in face of the suffering of so many people who don't have food, water, health care, who don't know how to offer a future to their children. ... This is possible only if we are also willing to be with the people, to accept them as brothers and sisters, without paternalism from on high." In an October 2023 article for
First Things, Müller re-examined Pope Benedict XVI's relationship with liberation theology, arguing that the Church does not reject the goal of liberation, nor a concern for material conditions. He went on arguing that the Holy See condemned liberation theology only as long as it borrowed elements from
Marxist and
utopian philosophy, while affirming liberation theology to the extent that it sought to help the poor. According to Müller, it is important to note that Gutiérrez's positions were never censored by the Holy See, and he was only asked to modify some of his statements.
Pachamama statue Following the 2019
Pachamama statue, Cardinal Müller broke with Pope Francis and defended the assailants who threw a statue of
Pachamama into a river. He stated that "The great mistake was to bring the idols into the church, not to put them out."
Protestant churches In a speech in October 2011, while quoting
Unitatis Redintegratio of the
Second Vatican Council regarding
ecumenism, Müller stated that "the Catholic Magisterium is far from denying an ecclesial character or an ecclesial existence to 'the separated Churches and Ecclesial Communities of the West'." In the book
Remaining in the Truth of Christ, published together with other cardinals and four Catholic scholars, theological arguments are presented in favour of the Catholic Church's centuries-old resistance to the Byzantine and Orthodox practice of
oikonomia, the possibility of remarrying – with the first spouse still alive – after a preparatory period of penance. This practice was introduced in the 11th century by the Byzantine emperors for political reasons, not divine ones.
Traditionis custodes Cardinal Müller has been critical of
Traditionis custodes, the
motu proprio apostolic letter issued by Pope Francis restricting the use of the
Tridentine Mass; having authored an analysis of the letter for the online publication
The Catholic Thing. Müller has criticised the letter as "harsh" and contrasted the efforts of the Pope to curtail traditionalist Catholics with his response to the German
Synodal Path writing, "Instead of appreciating the smell of the sheep, the shepherd here hits them hard with his crook." He also contrasted the suppression of the Tridentine Mass with the supposed introduction of pagan elements within the liturgy at the
Amazon Synod held in 2019: "The paganization of the Catholic liturgy […] through the mythologization of nature, the idolatry of environment and climate, as well as the
Pachamama spectacle, were rather counterproductive for the restoration and renewal of a dignified and orthodox liturgy reflective of the fulness of the Catholic faith." Müller was also critical of the elements of the document that seek to ascertain the assent of traditionalist Catholics to the legitimacy of the
Second Vatican Council, despite the fact that many teachings of the Council are "being heretically denied in open contradiction to Vatican II by a majority of [non-traditionalist] German bishops and lay functionaries (even if disguised under pastoral phrases)."
US Leadership Conference of Women Religious In 2012, Müller and the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith initiated an investigation of the
Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The member congregations of the Conference were ordered to review their statutes and reassess their plans and programs. The investigation was controversial, and was terminated by Pope Francis in April 2015, who "shrewdly let the nuns' case fade from his agenda". The investigation embittered many American Catholics "against what they perceive[d] as heavy-handed tactics by Rome against U.S. sisters who provide critical health care, education and other services for the poor."
Criticism of the Synod on Synodality On 7 October 2022 interview to
EWTN, Müller harshly criticized the concurrent Synod of Bishops, describing it as an "occupation of the Catholic Church" and a "hostile takeover of the Church of Jesus Christ", whose supporters want the "destruction of the Catholic Church", inviting Catholics to resist such process. In the same interview, he criticized Pope Francis for failing to defend Cardinal
Joseph Zen from persecution by Chinese authority.
Criticism of Pope Francis On 27 October 2023, Müller wrote an opinion piece on the ecumenical religious journal
First Things, stating that "to teach contrary to the apostolic faith would automatically deprive the pope of his office", quoting the 16th-century Cardinal
Robert Bellarmine in support and arguing that "We must all pray and work courageously to spare the Church such an ordeal". In a November 7, 2023 interview to
LifeSiteNews, stated that Pope Francis "has already uttered plenty of
material heresies", but argued that he had not
ceased to be the Pope, since
formal heresy could only be deemed so by the church and thus by the Pope himself. In the same interview, he also accused Cardinal
Víctor Manuel Fernández, recently appointed head of the
Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, of material heresy.
Eucharist In 2002, Müller published the book
Die Messe - Quelle des christlichen Lebens (The Mass - Source of Christian Life, St. Ulrich Verlag, Augsburg). In the book, he writes: "In reality, "Body and Blood of Christ" do not mean the material components of the man Jesus during His lifetime or in His transfigured corporeality. Rather, body and blood here mean the presence of Christ in the sign of the medium of bread and wine, which [presence] is made communicable in the here and now of sense-bound human perception."
Homosexuality Müller considers
homophobia to be "an invention, a tool of totalitarian domination over the mind" and "a deception used to threaten people", even though
homosexuality remains a
taboo subject that is prosecuted in many countries. He also stated that: "There is no such thing as 'homosexuals' as a category. There are real people who have certain tendencies, and there are
temptations."
Manifesto of Faith In February 2019, Müller issued a "Manifesto of Faith" to Catholic media outlets. It is viewed as critical of some aspects of Pope Francis Papacy. For the most part the manifesto represents a re-stating of the church teachings, such as celibacy for priests and the church's lack of authority to ordain women to the priesthood. One section appeared to repudiate Pope Francis's effort to open, in some cases, communion to divorced and remarried Catholics.
Clerical sexual abuse In 2012,
Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests criticized Müller's appointment to the CDF because he had reinstated
Peter Kramer in parish ministry after Kramer was convicted in 2000 of sexually abusing children. Kramer had completed court-ordered therapy. Müller did not inform those in Kramer's new parish of his past history. Müller had apologized in 2007 for mishandling the case. In 2016, Fritz Wallner, a former chair of the lay diocesan council in
Regensburg, Germany, alleged that Müller as Bishop of Regensburg had "systematically" thwarted the investigation of abuse in the "
Regensburger Domspatzen" boys' choir.
Georg Ratzinger,
Pope Benedict XVI's brother, led the choir from 1964 to 1994. Müller insisted that neither the church nor its bishops were responsible for abusers. In February 2012, he said that "if a schoolteacher abuses a child, it is not the school nor the Ministry of Education that are to blame." He maintained that only the perpetrator is guilty. In 2016, a commission of 12 members was instituted to address the history of abuse and its cover-up in the boys' choir, a move critics viewed as long overdue. Wallner called for the church to purge any person associated with Müller, who had overseen the church's response to the allegations. In July 2017, a comprehensive report commissioned by the Diocese of Regensburg on abuse at the boys choirs said that Müller had "clear responsibility for the strategic, organizational and communicative weaknesses" of the church's response when the abuses were first reported. Müller was also included in a suit in France for his handling of the case of Cardinal
Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon. Barbarin was eventually acquitted on appeal in June 2020.
Society of Saint Pius X On 26 June 2017, Bishop
Bernard Fellay, the then Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, received a letter dated 6 June from Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The prelate asked the acceptance of teachings of the
Second Vatican Council and post-conciliar period as a minimum requirement for the papal recognition of the Fraternity. In February 2026, Müller criticized the
Society of Saint Pius X for plan to consecrate bishops without papal approval. ==Honors==