Gary Michael Voris: Turning our attention to much of the episcopacy in Germany with the upcoming Synod, and to figures such as Cardinal Marx or Cardinal Kasper, it deeply hurts the Church to hear statements suggesting that people can be in a state of mortal sin and still receive Holy Communion. What is going on in their minds?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: This, I do not know; only God knows what is going on in the minds of these cardinals and bishops. For me, it is a contradiction, a kind of schizophrenia. They claim and confess, “Yes, we believe in the indissolubility of marriage,” and yet they permit the divorced and those living outside of marriage to receive Holy Communion.
The Holy Communion is the sign of the marriage between Christ and the Church. By allowing this, they are desecrating the sanctity of both sacraments, the sacrament of the Eucharist and the sacrament of marriage, in a very grave manner. For me, this is a continuous contradiction.
I can explain it only by suggesting that they have adopted a way of thinking, in Latin, forma mentis, that is similar to Gnostic thinking. For the Gnostics, it was acceptable to hold one idea in theory and to act differently in practice. The practice was seen as unimportant; only the idea or theory mattered.
So, while they claim in theory to uphold the indissolubility and sacramentality of marriage, in practice they act against it, and they seem to be at peace with this contradiction. This could reflect a truly Gnostic mental attitude.
Gary Michael Voris: It’s a kind of dualism between body and soul.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, a dualism, separating theory and practice. This was a typical Gnostic attitude, and it also leads to relativism. For me, it is a very grievous situation. It reveals that these bishops and cardinals have already adopted a relativistic attitude toward the truth.
Gary Michael Voris: Would you say that comes, perhaps, from a lack of formation when they were in seminary?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, of course. It comes from a lack of formation, or rather, a deformation, that they received in seminary. In my opinion, this is one of the causes: not only a lack of formation but a deformation. They were taught, I suppose, relativistic theology.
Gary Michael Voris: In many cases, even going back before the Vatican Council.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, in some areas, this goes back even before the Vatican Council. Pope Pius XII had to correct these tendencies, and in 1950, he issued the famous encyclical Humani Generis, in which he enumerated the main errors. It was a kind of syllabus, but unfortunately, it was not applied effectively in practice.
After the Council, this relativism became very visible in seminaries. It spread widely. This could be one of the main causes. Another cause, I believe, is the lack of a personal relationship with Christ.
When someone truly takes Christ and His words in the Gospel seriously, he cannot be a relativist. When one takes the spiritual life seriously, when Christ lives in him, and the Holy Spirit is active in him, it becomes impossible to think or behave in such a manner. Those who act this way have built up an image of Christ that is not the true Christ; it is a Gnostic Christ of their own making.