Pope Francis Edges Out Leading Conservative Doctrine Chief<br />By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSJULY 1, 2017<br />VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis declined Saturday to renew the mandate of the Vatican’s conservative doctrine chief, tapping a deputy instead to lead the powerful congregation<br />that handles sex abuse cases and guarantees Catholic orthodoxy around the world.<br />But the greater clash between Müller and the pope concerned Francis’ divisive 2016 document on family life "The Joy of Love," in which he<br />used strategically placed footnotes to offer a cautious opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive communion.<br />It was also Benedict who insisted that bishops around the world send all cases of credibly accused priests to the congregation for processing,<br />since bishops had for decades moved pedophiles around from parish to parish rather than sanction or report them to police.<br />Church teaching holds that unless these Catholics receive an annulment, or a church decree<br />that their first marriage was invalid, they are committing adultery and cannot receive communion unless they abstain from sex.<br />Benedict had taken a hard line against clerical sex abuse during his time as prefect of the congregation himself,<br />and later as pope, defrocking hundreds of priests accused of raping and molesting children.<br />Müller and Pell were two most powerful cardinals in the Vatican, after the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin,<br />and their absences will likely create a power vacuum for the conservative wing in the Holy See hierarchy.
