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BAD FUSSING, Germany, July 6, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – The day before he died, Cardinal Joachim Meisner spoke to Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former Vatican doctrine chief removed by Pope Francis last week, and said he was distressed over his dismissal and what it meant for the Church.

Müller told this to the German outlet Passauer Neue Presse. Dr. Maike Hickson translated the interview at One Peter Five.

Meisner was one of the four cardinals who submitted a dubia to Pope Francis asking him if Amoris Laetitia is aligned with Catholic morality. It remains unanswered.

Meisner fell asleep while holding his breviary and preparing to offer Mass, and then died peacefully.

In a phone conversation, Müller and Meisner discussed “the non-renewal of his [Müller's] former position” as Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

Meisner said he was “deeply saddened” by Müller's removal.

It “moved him personally and wounded him – and he considered it to be a form of damage for the Church,” Müller recalled.

Hickson translated another portion of the interview which addressed Müller's removal from the CDF:

In the interview with the PNP [Passauer Neue Presse], he explained that Pope Francis “communicated his decision” not to renew his term “within one minute” on the last work day of his five-year-term as Prefect of the Congregation for the Faith. Additionally, he [Müller] was not given any reasons for it. “This style [sic] I cannot accept,” as Müller stressed, clearly distancing himself from the procedure of the pope. In dealing with employees, also in Rome “the Church’s social teaching should be applied.”

Müller told PNP he doesn't plan to retaliate against the pope, and that he still is loyal to him. This is a continuation of Müller's position throughout debates over Amoris Laetitia. He said the pope's document must be read in line with Church teaching and therefore there's no way it could be opening the door to Communion for remarried divorcés. 

Müller also rebuked bishops for claiming the document changed Church practice and teaching. He made mixed remarks about the dubia, but told EWTN's Raymond Arroyo in a May 2017 interview that it raised “legitimate questions.”

Müller defended Catholic orthodoxy throughout his time at the CDF. He avoided pitting himself against Pope Francis, but his statements on Amoris Laetitia were out of sync with the Vatican party line that the exhortation does allow Communion for the divorced and remarried.

Meisner was 83 and throughout his career defended life, marriage, and family. As he celebrated Christmas Eve Mass in 2014, a topless abortion supporter from Femen jumped onto the altar with “I am God” written across her body.

Meisner was unshaken and said that because he lived through the Nazis and Communism, he wasn't about to be shocked by this.