"One can only be Catholic if one fully recognizes the faith of the Church. This includes the Second Vatican Council, which is a particularly important teaching," Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller said to Vatican Radio on July 4 in his first and only interview since taking up his new post.

"It is therefore important to overcome internal blockages — groups on the fringes — and that one simply has to trust our Holy Father Benedict XVI and all those that who surround him," Bishop Mueller remarked.

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Pope Benedict chose the fellow German and personal friend to succeed American Cardinal William Levada as prefect of the powerful congregation.

Bishop Mueller, who is 64, has led the diocese of Regensburg — home to the university where the Pope taught until 1977 — since 2002.

The former professor of dogmatic theology is a prolific author, his best-known work being a 900-page tome, "Catholic Dogmatics: For the Study and Practice of Theology".

Bishop Mueller was a student of liberation theology founder Gustavo Gutierrez — whose writings were scrutinized by the congregation under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The bishop co-authored a book on liberation theology with Gutierrez in 2004 and each year since 1998 has gone to Peru for a course from Gutierrez and to spend time with farmers in a rural parish.

Until now Bishop Mueller has been president of the German Bishops Conference's Ecumenism Commission. He was also chief Catholic negotiator in theological talks with the Lutherans.

He is described as a timid man, a trait sometimes mistaken for abruptness by his colleagues.

In his own diocese he has set up an institute to publish the collected works of the Pope and has stemmed the influence of the We are Church movement.

In his new post Bishop Mueller will be the key Vatican player in the overhaul of the United States Leadership Conference of Women Religious demanded by the doctrinal congregation in April.

He will also have responsibility for ongoing negotiations with the Society of St Pius X, as well as taking over Cardinal Levada's other responsibilities as president of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei", the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and the International Theological Commission.

Sources:

Vatican Insider

Seattle Post Intelligencer

Image: Tz-online.de