Taking the Catholic Pulse
Sign In
  • John Allen Jr.
    • John Allen Jr.
    • Charles Collins
    • Elise Ann Allen
    • John Lavenburg
    • Fr. Jeff Kirby
    • Nirmala Carvalho
    • Charles Camosy
    • Eduardo Campos Lima
    • Paulina Guzik
    • Claire Page
    • Christopher R. Altieri
    • Vatican
    • U.S.
    • UK and Ireland
    • Middle East
    • Americas
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Oceania
    • Interviews
    • Videos
    • Podcast
    • Last Week in the Church
  • Support Us
  • About Us
    • Contact Details
    • Advertising
    • Email Updates

  

    

       

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Crux
© 2025 Crux Catholic Media, Inc.
Privacy & Cookie Policy
CruxTaking the Catholic Pulse
  • About Crux
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising
  • Videos
  • Support Us
Podcast:
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Podcast Index
  • Amazon Music
  • Google Podcasts
  • TuneIn

Quick Links

  • Currents News
  • The Tablet
  • DeSales Media Group in the Diocese of Brooklyn
  • Catholic TV
  • Angelus News
  • The Catholic Channel on Sirius XM
  • Catholic Standard
Cardinal Reinhard Marx: Support for the pope is ‘substantial’ | Crux

Cardinal Reinhard Marx: Support for the pope is ‘substantial’

By Josephine McKenna
Feb 18, 2017
|Religion News Service
Share
Cardinal Reinhard Marx: Support for the pope is ‘substantial’

German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich, blesses Catholics before a Sunday Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral in Hanoi during his week-long visit to Vietnam, on January 10, 2016. (Credit: Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Kham.)

VATICAN CITY – Vatican heavyweight Cardinal Reinhard Marx said there may be tensions within the Roman Catholic Church but stressed Pope Francis has the full support of his senior cardinals.
The German cardinal and archbishop of Munich and Freising was asked at a news conference on Wednesday (Feb. 15) why nine cardinals who advise Francis on the Vatican’s economic and structural reforms felt the need to defend the pope in a statement issued on Monday.“We didn’t want to make a great drama but it was time to repeat that we support the pope and we are together with him,” said Marx, who is a close papal ally.

The Council of Cardinals, known as the C9, appeared to be responding to a spate of attacks from conservatives challenging the pope’s authority.

Marx acknowledged there were “tensions” within the church but stressed differences of opinion always existed.

“We have discussions in the church, normal discussions, tensions,” he said. “It will be forever like this.”

Marx said support and loyalty for the pope within the church was “substantial” and evident in the positive reception the cardinals received to their statement.

In that statement, the cardinals expressed their “full support for the pope’s work” and guaranteed “full backing for him and his teachings.”

The cardinals — from Australia, Austria, Chile, Congo, Germany, Honduras, India, Italy and the United States — customarily issue statements at the end of their two-day meetings but expressing solidarity for the pope was highly unusual.

On Feb. 4, anonymous activists plastered posters around Rome criticizing the pope for moves seen as targeting conservatives in the church.

The posters, which have since been removed, questioned the pope’s decisions and featured a stern-looking image of Francis with the question: “Where’s your mercy?”

They accused Francis of “ignoring cardinals” and ordering “the decapitation of the Knights of Malta,” an ancient lay Catholic religious order that runs hospitals and clinics around the world.

In September last year, four conservative cardinals, including Cardinal Raymond Burke, wrote to the pope seeking clarification of certain aspects of his apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia.

 

Share

Latest Stories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related Stories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most Popular

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Last Week in the Church
Last Week in the Church
Keep Crux Independent
Keep Crux Independent

For the cost of a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you can help keep the lights on at Crux.

Support Us
Crux
Last Week in the Church with John Allen Jr.

Tuesdays on

Tuesdays on YouTube
Tuesdays on YouTube
  • Apple PodcastsApple Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Podcast Index
  • Amazon MusicAmazon Music
  • Google PodcastsGoogle Podcasts
  • TuneIn

Crux. Anytime. Anywhere.

Today’s top stories delivered straight into your inbox.

Latest
Faith leaders hope bill will stop the loss of thousands of clergy from abroad serving US communities
Smoke rises from an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel Sunday, July 27, 2025. (Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg/AP.)

Pope Leo says Gaza ‘crushed by hunger’ as Vatican official calls for recognition of State of Palestine

  • Jul 27
  • Charles Collins
Father Athanasius Abanulo waves to his parishioners after Mass on Dec. 12, 2021, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Wedowee, Alabama. (Credit: Jessie Wardarski/AP.)

Faith leaders hope bill will stop the loss of thousands of clergy from abroad serving US communities

  • Jul 28
  • Giovanna Dell'Orto, 
    Associated Press
A crowd gathers in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, where newly elected Pope Leo XIV will deliver a blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Credit: Domenico Stinellis/AP.)

Warsaw archbishop asks Vatican to defrock Polish priest charged with the killing of a homeless man

  • Jul 28
  • Associated Press
(Credit: Pixabay.)

The presence of God is not cheaply won

  • Jul 27
  • Father Jeffrey F. Kirby
Smoke rises from an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel Sunday, July 27, 2025. (Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg/AP.)

Pope Leo says Gaza ‘crushed by hunger’ as Vatican official calls for recognition of State of Palestine

  • Jul 27
  • Charles Collins
Refugees carry food at a distribution center run by the World Food Programme (WFP) at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Turkana, Kenya Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Credit: Andrew Kasuku/AP.)

Missionaries are a ‘message of hope’ according to Pope Leo

  • Jul 25
  • Charles Collins
Pope Leo XIV receives participants in course for seminary formators and receives Xaverian Missionaries on July 25, 2025. (Credit: Vatican Media.)

Pope Leo says mission of evangelism belongs to all the baptized

  • Jul 25
  • Charles Collins
Pope Leo XIV waves to faithful at the end of the noon Angelus prayer in the square in front of the Apostolic Palace for in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (Credit: Gregorio Borgia/AP.)

Pope Leo leaves Castel Gandolfo and returns to Vatican City

  • Jul 23
  • Crux Staff
Father Athanasius Abanulo waves to his parishioners after Mass on Dec. 12, 2021, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Wedowee, Alabama. (Credit: Jessie Wardarski/AP.)

Faith leaders hope bill will stop the loss of thousands of clergy from abroad serving US communities

  • Jul 28
  • Giovanna Dell'Orto, 
    Associated Press
A crowd gathers in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, where newly elected Pope Leo XIV will deliver a blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Credit: Domenico Stinellis/AP.)

Warsaw archbishop asks Vatican to defrock Polish priest charged with the killing of a homeless man

  • Jul 28
  • Associated Press
People gather around the charred remains of a burned vehicle following a deadly attack in Komanda, Ituri province of eastern Congo, Sunday, July 27, 2025. (Credit: Olivier Okande/UGC via AP.)

Islamic State-backed rebels attack a Catholic church in eastern Congo, killing at least 34

  • Jul 28
  • Associated Press
File photo of Vice President Sara Duterte, posted on her official account on July 3, 2025. (Credit: Inday Sara Duterte/Facebook.)

Priests, nuns condemn Philippine court ruling against Duterte impeachment

  • Jul 28
  • Joseph San Mateo