FSSPX News posted an article on May 1, 2025, entitled “At the ‘Media Conclave,’ Cardinal Müller Speaks Out,” in which the Cardinal’s vital role in the Conclave is succinctly laid out, and which dovetails with Michael Matt’s recent RTV Conclave Report SEDE VACANTE: Do Conservative Cardinals at the Conclave Matter?
We offer a few excerpts from the FSSPX news post in order to encourage our readers to continue to pray for the Tradition-leaning Cardinals ahead of the May 7 start of the Conclave.
From the FSSPX report:
The former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, renamed the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith by the late Pope Francis, has painted a portrait of the ideal pope in the eyes of the conservative bloc of which he is a pillar. While the actual conclave begins on May 7, the “media conclave,” for its part, is already well underway.
Could the pre-conclave be an opportunity for a number of cardinals to signal their choice to change the direction of the Church?
It must be said that the assessments of the pontificate that has just ended are largely mixed, even very gloomy, on themes such as the transmission of the Faith, morality, governance, and finances.
But there is a major novelty in this time of the vacancy of the See: many porporati no longer hesitate to speak out, even outside the congregations of cardinals, something that would have been unheard of during the previous conclave. It demonstrates how much the last pontificate has reshuffled the deck, not to mention the importance assumed by the “third estate” in the age of digital technology and artificial intelligence.
“A Church Firm in Its Principles”: this is the title of the interview given to La Stampa on April 28 by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, who delivers, in one of Italy’s leading newspapers, a frank vision of the future of the Catholic Church.
As the conclave approaches, the high-ranking prelate aspires to a future pontificate that is “inflexible” in the face of contemporary pressures, particularly those exerted by what he calls the “gay lobby” within the Church. The cardinal accuses what he describes as a pressure group, of promoting a relativistic vision, incompatible with Christian anthropology and Catholic morality.
The former “patron of the faith” insists that the next pope must reject any “doctrinal compromise” on the first principles of the Faith. The Church must not adapt to dominant cultural trends to the detriment of its prophetic mission. He criticizes the growing temptation, within the Vatican itself, to seek to please the world by softening traditional positions. He sees this as a betrayal of the Church, which must proclaim the truth of Christ, even when it is unpopular….
The high-ranking prelate knows that his chances of acceding to the supreme pontificate are virtually nil. His intervention seeks to leverage the influence of the media…
