Cardinal Muller: Push for lay homilies stems from denial of ‘sacramental priesthood’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Cardinal Gerhard Müller has added his voice to the Vatican’s in opposing a move by the German bishops to have lay people delivering homilies during Mass. “One cannot arbitrarily divide up priestly powers and outsource them in a functionalist manner,” he warned, “unless one denies the sacramental priesthood altogether in a Protestant manner, subsumes it entirely under the common priesthood of all the faithful, and leaves it merely as a function carried out on behalf of the community.” Cdl. Müller in a stock photo. ©Cardinal Muller/Facebook Müller’s commentary was published on June 25, two days after the Vatican published news of its own response to the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) who had sought permission for members of the laity to deliver homilies during Mass. {For full details see the previous report by this correspondent from Tuesday. Cdl. Müller’s full statement is found below.} The lengthy response from the Congregation for Divine Worship to the …