WASHINGTON, DC, October 24, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Gerhard Müller has issued a strong statement against the erection of “idols” in a Roman church for the Amazon Synod.

In a short excerpt published tonight of a longer interview with Raymond Arroyo for his The World Over show on EWTN, Cardinal Müller states that “to bring the idols into the Church was a grave sin, was a crime against the divine law.”

Müller is the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

These comments were made after Arroyo mentions the fact that there have been people who have removed the controversial pagan idols from the Church of Santa Maria del Traspontina and then threw them into the Tiber River, asking Cardinal Müller for comment.

“The great mistake was to bring the idols into the Church,” replies the cardinal, “not to put them out, because according to the Law of God Himself – the First Commandment – idolism [idolatry] is a grave sin and not to mix them with the Christian liturgy.”

“To put it out,” Müller continues, “to throw it out, can be against human law, but to bring the idols into the Church was a grave sin, a crime against the Divine Law.”

“That is a deep difference.”

Watch the exchange:

WORLD OVER HOT TAKE: Cardinal Gerhard Mueller on the men in Rome who threw the indigenous "Mother Earth" statues in the Tiber river. See the full interview tonight at 8PM E @EWTN pic.twitter.com/wlTSisYkD9 — Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) October 24, 2019

The German cardinal just recently had made some strong comments against the paganism that can be seen at the Amazon Synod. In a commentary written for LifeSiteNews, he regrets that “not even bishops realize when the border to the old paganism has been crossed” and explains that idolatry and superstition is “a sin against God because it confuses the Creator with His Creation.”

“The adoration of God,” he explains, “is the true theology of liberation from fear, fright, and insecurity which come to us from the material world and our fellow men. And only with the help of the Gospel and Christ's Grace can a culture develop its positive influence and be freed from the power of evil.”

Cardinal Müller then also recalls the words spoken by Saint Peter: “You are Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Watch LifeSite's Diane Montagna and Patrick Craine discussing the removal of the controversial statues: