Cardinal Kasper To Be Replaced Soon?

Word around the Vatican is that Cardinal Walter Kasper is to retire and be replaced by Mons. Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, the Bishop of Regensburg, Germany.

Pope Benedict XVI is expected to make the announcement on Saturday, according to one source.

If true, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity will have had two German presidents in succession.

Bishop Mueller is known as a traditionalist and doctrinally conservative.

However, he criticized the Pope for lifting the excommunications on the four Lefebvrite bishops in January this year, one of whom was Bishop Richard Williamson who denied the extent of the Holocaust.

Archbishop Mueller criticized the Pope for extending "both hands to a marginal group" and later banned Bishop Williamson from his diocesan churches and facilities.

The Holy Father was unaware of Williamson's anti-Semitic views until after he had made his decision.

UPDATE: The diocese of Regensburg has denied the rumours, which originally started in the German media, saying as far as they know, no decision has yet been taken. However, Cardinal Kasper is expected to be replaced in the next few months having passed the retirement age of cardinals.