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\n Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig M\u00c3\u00bcller \u2014 the former head of the Vatican\u2019s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) \u2014 said there is \u201cno proof\u201d that he mishandled money during his tenure and referred to allegations of financial improprieties as a \u201cdefamation strategy\u201d in an EWTN interview that aired on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. \/ Credit: EWTN News\/The World Over with Raymond Arroyo<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 13, 2024 \/ 16:46 pm (CNA).<\/p>\n
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig M\u00c3\u00bcller \u2014 the former head of the Vatican\u2019s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) \u2014 said there is \u201cno proof\u201d that he mishandled money during his tenure and referred to allegations of financial improprieties as a \u201cdefamation strategy\u201d in an EWTN interview<\/a> that aired on Thursday, Aug. 8.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have no arguments against my ideology, and therefore they want to disavow or make defamation of my person,\u201d M\u00c3\u00bcller said on \u201cThe World Over with Raymond Arroyo.\u201d<\/p>\n Pope Benedict XVI appointed M\u00c3\u00bcller as the prefect for the CDF in July 2012, but Pope Francis declined<\/a> to renew the appointment in 2017.<\/p>\n The Vatican did not disclose why the pontiff would not allow M\u00c3\u00bcller to continue serving in the CDF. However, a report published by the Catholic website The Pillar<\/a> on July 31, citing anonymous sources, claims the cardinal and the CDF were investigated for \u201ccharges of significant financial improprieties\u201d prior to the decision. This report comes more than seven years after his departure.<\/p>\n According to the sources, tens of thousands of euros of the CDF\u2019s funds were kept in office drawers and used as unreceipted discretionary funds. The report claims that Secretariat for the Economy officials witnessed CDF officials moving large sums of cash in plastic bags. It further alleges that 200,000 euros\u2019 worth of CDF funds were deposited into the cardinal\u2019s personal bank accounts, which Francis ordered him to pay back. <\/p>\n In his interview with Arroyo, M\u00c3\u00bcller said these claims date back to \u201cnine years ago\u201d but that there was \u201cno money missing\u201d and that everything \u201cwas clarified with Cardinal [George] Pell,\u201d who led the Secretariat for the Economy at the time. According to M\u00c3\u00bcller, \u201cthere were no accusations against myself.\u201d<\/p>\n According to M\u00c3\u00bcller, the cash in the office was \u201cin the hands of our administrator\u201d and was never put into \u201cprivate pockets.\u201d He said: \u201cThey cannot give [any] proof that [there] was any disappearing of money.\u201d The cardinal added that \u201cnobody \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 took away a penny.\u201d <\/p>\n M\u00c3\u00bcller also denied any money was put in a \u201cpersonal account.\u201d He said that \u201cthere was an account for the mission \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but it was absolutely clear that it was money of the congregation and not my personal money.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was on the responsibility of the prefect, in my function as prefect, and not in a private way,\u201d the former CDF prefect said, adding that \u201cthis account [was] in the service of the congregation [and] it was all documented.\u201d<\/p>\n M\u00c3\u00bcller said \u201cthe pope was not involved\u201d in any investigation and that the pope never instructed him to return any money.<\/p>\n \u201cI came to Rome with \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Pope Benedict and he asked me to lead the congregation \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 as an expert of theology and [it had] nothing to do with finance,\u201d the cardinal said. \u201cI didn\u2019t come to Rome to make money. As a German bishop, as a priest, we have our livelihood, and the rest of our money [is] for giving, making charity, and not making money to become a rich man.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this month, M\u00c3\u00bcller referred to the article<\/a> as \u201ccheap tabloid literature.\u201d<\/p>\n In his interview with Arroyo, M\u00c3\u00bcller said the timing is likely related to the Synod on Synodality concluding in October. The cardinal, one of 52 delegates personally chosen by Francis to attend the synod, has since criticized<\/a> some of the attendees for using it as an avenue to promote homosexuality and the ordination of women and advance other ideas contrary to Church doctrine.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know who is behind [these allegations] because this was an anonymous strategy,\u201d he told Arroyo. \u201cI asked [myself] if these people have nothing to do in their working time [other than] to arrange strategies of defamation instead of doing their work for the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n After M\u00c3\u00bcller was out at the CDF, he was replaced by Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, a Spanish Jesuit. The Vatican changed the name of the office to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2022, and it is now led by Cardinale V\u00edctor Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez<\/a>.<\/p>\n