'We cannot absolutely condemn or forbid the legitimate right and form of the Latin liturgy,' Cardinal Müller told media.
(LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Gerhard Müller has reportedly suggested that Pope Leo XIV should fully restore access to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) “as a first step.”
A report by the Associated Press (AP) summarized the cardinal's statement on this subject as follows: “Mueller, who was fired by Francis as the Vatican’s doctrinal chief, suggested as a first step that Leo should restore access to the old Latin Mass that his predecessor had greatly restricted.”
“We cannot absolutely condemn or forbid the legitimate right and form of the Latin liturgy,” Müller told the AP. “According to his character, I think [Leo] is able to speak with people and to find a very good solution that is good for everybody.”
The AP also reports that the German cardinal said Pope Francis’ actions against the TLM and traditionalists led to unnecessary division, which Pope Leo XIV is now tasked with healing.
“The pope, as successor of St. Peter, has to unite the church,” Müller stressed.
READ: Cardinal Müller calls on Pope Leo XIV to heal divisions in Church
Pope Francis severely restricted the use of the TLM with his controversial 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes. In doing so, he directly contradicted his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who was still alive at the time.
“I am convinced that he [Pope Leo XIV] will overcome these superfluous tensions [which were] damaging for the church,” Müller said in the AP interview. “We cannot avoid all the conflicts, but we have to avoid the not necessary conflicts, the superfluous conflicts.”
Commenting on the conclave and the election of American Cardinal Robert Prevost to the papacy, the 77-year-old German cardinal said, “I think it [gave] a good impression of him to everybody, and in the end it was a great concordia, a great harmony.”
“There was no polemics, no fractionizing,” he added.
When asked if he voted for Prevost during the conclave, Müller replied, “Oh, I cannot say. But I am content, no?”
According to AP, Müller, the former head of the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith, said he expects Leo XIV to move into the Apostolic Palace, which was “the proper place for a pope.”
Francis's decision to live in the Vatican’s Domus Sanctae Marthae guest house had the practical effect of occupying the entire second floor and therefore reducing rooms for visiting clergy.
READ: Cardinal Müller suggests that Pope Francis committed ‘material heresies’
