Pope names Spanish Archbishop as head of Vatican doctrine

Pope Francis has named Spanish Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer to replace German Cardinal Gerhard Mueller as head of the Vatican's doctrine watchdog, according to media reports.

Francis met Mueller (69), who was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in 2012, on Friday and told him that his mandate had come to an end after five years.

Pope Francis chose not to ask Müller to serve a second five-year term in the post.

The German cardinal is seen as a leading critic of Francis' landmark Amoris Laetitia document which in 2016 suggested that people who were divorced and remarried could, under special circumstances, be allowed to take the Holy Communion.

Müller said at the time that such Catholics could not receive Communion unless they made a commitment to abstain from sexual relations with their new partners.

Earlier in March, Mueller's congregation was accused by clergy sex abuse survivor Marie Collins of resisting the work of a papal commission on child protection.