In the interview from the January 8, 2026 episode of The World Over, Cardinal Gerhard Müller addressed Raymond Arroyo‘s question regarding why the liturgy was excluded from the Consistory’s final agenda as follows:
“This [The Litirgy] was a discussion in the consistory between the cardinals and the Pope. The Pope proposed four subjects, and the great majority spoke about the new evangelization, which should be included. The other aspects, including the Liturgy, were discussed because Liturgy is a culmination of the Christian life, the adoration of God, and the presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament. The Church also has to discuss how to go on with this—questions about the Old and the New [Rite].
The basic conviction is that the Holy Mass is the center of the Christian life, and about this there is no discussion. The discussion is about how to use the Older form of the Latin Rite or the New Form of the Latin Rite. I think Pope Leo will find a good solution for everybody.
[But] It is not the central question for the Church of today because we are living in times of secularization, atheism, anti-Christian political systems, woke ideology, and wrong anthropology, which are absolutely in contradiction to the Christian understanding of the dignity of every body called to become daughters and sons of God in Jesus Christ. Therefore, (also) because time was limited, the cardinals preferred to speak about the great challenges of the Church and not so much about aspects inside of the Church.”
Cardinal Müller’s statements here should not misrepresented as being “against the liturgy.” His remarks are better understood as a prudential judgment regarding agenda priorities, rather than as any theological downgrading of the Sacred Liturgy, which is repeatedly affirmed as the heart of Christian life.
At the same time, a case is being made that many cardinals mistakenly view the Liturgy as unrelated to evangelization and regard Synodality as the primary means for addressing contemporary challenges such as secularization, atheism, and woke ideology.
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