The theological controversies within the College of Cardinals are so dramatic that they could lead to one of the most schismatic and heretical crises the Catholic Church has ever had.

I will mention only some of the liberal leaders who have openly declared their opinions, positing changes to what conservative prelates are fighting to keep as dogmatic teachings of the Church.

On April 13, 2013, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Reinhard Marx a member of a group of nine cardinals to study a plan for revising the apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, Pastor Bonus.

Cardinal Marx, on whether the Church should give holy Communion to civilly remarried divorcees, came to public disagreement in the Vatican with Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, the head of the Congregation of the Faith.

Concerning the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, Cardinal Marx said there may be tensions within the Roman Catholic Church, but affirmed that Pope Francis has the full support of his senior cardinals. Cardinal Marx also indicated support for Cardinal Walter Kasper’s proposal to allow people living in adultery, due to having remarried civilly, to receive the sacrament of holy Communion. 

As president of the German bishops conference, Cardinal Marx also said that same-sex marriages should aso be permitted by the Church. He was reported as saying that the Church “has not always adopted the right tone towards LGBT people,” suggesting there are positive elements to same-sex unions.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, also a German, is not an elector because he is 83 and cardinals who have reached the age of 80 cannot enter the conclave to elect a new Pope. He is Pope Francis’ theologian and president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for promoting Christian Unity.

During the sede vacante period following Pope Benedict XVI’s renunciation, Cardinal Kasper developed a great friendship with Pope Francis who was still Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio then, and discussed with him the controversial proposal to grant the divorced and civilly remarried access to holy Communion.

When Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia was published in April 2016, Cardinal Kasper became the leader of the group calling for drastic changes in the Catholic Church. His position is deeply rooted in German idealistic philosophy. It borders on apostasy to say those living in  adultery can receive Communion, in complete contradiction with the words of Jesus. Even children preparing to receive their first Communion know that they cannot do so if they are not in a state of grace.

And this is exactly what the traditionalist cardinals oppose. With immense regret, Cardinal Raymond Burke said: “Confusion, division, and error within the Catholic Church, coming from ‘shepherds’ even at the highest levels, indicate that we may be in the end of times.”

Cardinal Burke, who is one of the four cardinals who signed the dubia (“doubts”) asking Pope Francis to clarify ambiguities in his teaching, said there are “many shepherds” who are no longer truly shepherding the faithful entrusted to them.

Another cardinal, Guinea, Africa, has become a standard bearer for Catholic orthodoxy in a Church where many things now seem uncertain. Many are now talking about him as a possible papabile. He is Robert Sarah, elevated to the sacred college of cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI and increasingly admired by those who wish to consolidate the legacy of the Pope emeritus.

Paradoxically, Cardinal Sarah’s profile has become noticeably higher in a pontificate that might be thought uncongenial to his theological temperament. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the synods of the last two years where he became an outstanding spokesman, both on the synod floor and in writing, for those resisting attempts to open access to the Eucharist to the divorced and civilly remarried – a change advocated forcefully by Cardinal Walter Kasper and others, and to which Pope Francis is thought to be favourable.

The African cardinal was adamant that no change was possible to the discipline since this would be tantamount to a repudiation of the Church’s constant doctrine. He has been no less forthright in equating the agenda of liberal theologians to cultural imperialism from an arrogant and decadent West.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who discovered the spiritual value of Cardinal Sarah, feels the same. He was deeply afflicted by the death of his very close friend, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, one of the four dubia cardinals, and sent a sobering message to his funeral saying that the Lord does not abandon his Church, even when the boat has taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.