Pope dismisses powerful cardinal in turbulent week for Vatican

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Pope Francis has dismissed the church's chief of doctrine, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller - one of the most powerful cardinals at the Vatican - and appointed a Spanish archbishop to the role, the Vatican said on Saturday.

German conservative Mueller, 69, who served a five-year posting as head of the powerful department responsible for church doctrine, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), had clashed with the pope over key reform issues.

He was one of several cardinals who questioned Francis's determination for the Catholic Church to take a softer line on people traditionally seen as "sinners", including remarried divorced people who want to take communion.

Pope Francis leaves at the end of the Holy Mass for the Solemnity of St. Peter and Paul in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican June 29, 2017. /VCG Photo

Mueller had also been caught up in the controversy surrounding the church's response to the clerical sex abuse scandal after his department was accused of obstructing Francis's efforts to stop internal cover-ups of abuse.

"In space of three days, two leading Vatican cardinals out of their posts," said Vatican watcher Christopher Lamb, after Vatican finance chief George Pell was charged with historical sexual assault this week.

The Vatican said Mueller's five-year term would not be renewed and he would be replaced by CDF secretary Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, a 73-year-old Spaniard.

Gerhard Mueller in downtown Rome, Italy on February 25, 2014. /VCG Photo

In March a prominent church reform group called for Mueller's resignation after accusations that senior officials had wilfully ignored Fancis's decision to create a new tribunal to judge bishops who cover up sexual abuse.

Irish survivor of abuse Marie Collins, who quit the pope's commission on the protection of minors in disgust, singled out Mueller's ministry, which is in charge of the clerical abuse dossier.

His dismissal comes at the end of a turbulent week in the heartland of the Roman Catholic faith, following the charges of sexual offences brought against the Vatican finance chief on Thursday.

A file photo taken on March 3, 2016 shows Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell of Australia speaking to the media at the Quirinale hotel in Rome. /VCG Photo

The Australian cardinal, 76, was granted a leave of absence by the pope to defend his name after he became the most senior Catholic cleric to be charged with criminal offences linked to the Church's long-running sexual abuse scandal.

(Source: AFP)

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