Cardinal Müller on EWTN: ‘Financial improprieties’ allegation is a ‘defamation strategy’

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller — the former head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) — said there is “no proof” that he mishandled money during his tenure and referred to allegations of financial improprieties as a “defamation strategy” in an EWTN interview that aired on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. / Credit: EWTN News/The World Over with Raymond Arroyo

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 13, 2024 / 16:46 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller — the former head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) — said there is “no proof” that he mishandled money during his tenure and referred to allegations of financial improprieties as a “defamation strategy” in an EWTN interview that aired on Thursday, Aug. 8.

“They have no arguments against my ideology, and therefore they want to disavow or make defamation of my person,” Müller said on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.”

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Müller as the prefect for the CDF in July 2012, but Pope Francis declined to renew the appointment in 2017.

The Vatican did not disclose why the pontiff would not allow Müller to continue serving in the CDF. However, a report published by the Catholic website The Pillar on July 31, citing anonymous sources, claims the cardinal and the CDF were investigated for “charges of significant financial improprieties” prior to the decision. This report comes more than seven years after his departure.

According to the sources, tens of thousands of euros of the CDF’s 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’ worth of CDF funds were deposited into the cardinal’s personal bank accounts, which Francis ordered him to pay back. 

In his interview with Arroyo, Müller said these claims date back to “nine years ago” but that there was “no money missing” and that everything “was clarified with Cardinal [George] Pell,” who led the Secretariat for the Economy at the time. According to Müller, “there were no accusations against myself.”

According to Müller, the cash in the office was “in the hands of our administrator” and was never put into “private pockets.” He said: “They cannot give [any] proof that [there] was any disappearing of money.” The cardinal added that “nobody … took away a penny.” 

Müller also denied any money was put in a “personal account.” He said that “there was an account for the mission … but it was absolutely clear that it was money of the congregation and not my personal money.”

“It was on the responsibility of the prefect, in my function as prefect, and not in a private way,” the former CDF prefect said, adding that “this account [was] in the service of the congregation [and] it was all documented.”

Müller said “the pope was not involved” in any investigation and that the pope never instructed him to return any money.

“I came to Rome with … Pope Benedict and he asked me to lead the congregation … as an expert of theology and [it had] nothing to do with finance,” the cardinal said. “I didn’t 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.”

Earlier this month, Müller referred to the article as “cheap tabloid literature.”

In his interview with Arroyo, Müller 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 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.

“I don’t know who is behind [these allegations] because this was an anonymous strategy,” he told Arroyo. “I 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.”

After Müller 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 Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández.