Cardinal Cordes Dead, Called Homosexual Blessings “Sacrilegious”

Curia Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, 89, died in Rome on 15 March. He was a bishop in the Roman Curia for 34 years, first as the Vice President of the Council for the Laity and co-initiator of World Youth Days, then as President of the Dicastery Cor Unum.

Cordes came to the Vatican by chance. In 1978, as auxiliary bishop of Paderborn, he was assigned to accompany Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow on a visit to Germany, during which Wojtyla also accepted an honorary doctorate from the controversial theological faculty of Tübingen. Weeks later, Wojtyla was elected Pope and in 1979 he called Cordes to Rome.

A neo-conservative, Cordes supported new spiritual communities and movements and was a friend of Benedict XVI. He has been a moderate critic of Francis' pontificate, including in statements to LifeSiteNews.com.

Cardinal Cordes has defended the first Dubia cardinals who questioned Amoris Laetitia. He criticised the 2019 Synod on the Amazon, and called Francis' Pachamama ceremonies a lapse into idolatry: "It would be fatal to forget the Creator in the face of creation, to bow before the work instead of its author," he wrote.

In 2018, Cordes called the [pseudo] blessing of homosexual concubines "sacrilegious", saying it "ignores the clear revelation of God" because "homosexuality is always contrary to the will of God".

He reminded Francis that "the Church is bound in her pastoral care to Sacred Scripture and its interpretation by the Church's Magisterium".

Picture: Paul Josef Cordes © wikicommons, CC BY-SA, #newsJbakkzhozz