Bishop Rob Mutsaerts

Auxiliary Bishop Rob Mutsaerts of ’s-Hertogenbosch has been seriously injured in a car crash while returning home after hearing confessions. The conservative Dutch bishop reportedly suffered a dislocated hip, fractured pelvis and broken elbow in the accident on 10 May Auxiliary Bishop Rob Mutsaerts of ’s-Hertogenbosch has been seriously injured in a car crash while returning home after hearing confessions. Reports emerging from The Remnant said the 67-year-old bishop suffered a dislocated hip, a fractured pelvis and a broken elbow in the accident, which took place on 10 May. No further details about the collision have yet been released publicly. Bishop Mutsaerts has served as auxiliary bishop of the Dutch diocese since 2010 following his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1993 by Bishop Johannes ter Schure after training at the Sint-Janscentrum seminary in Den Bosch, where he later also served as deputy headmaster. Before entering the priesthood, he studied law at Tilburg University. He subsequently worked in parishes including Millingen aan de Rijn and Heeze before being named titular bishop of Uccula and auxiliary bishop of ’s-Hertogenbosch. For much of the last decade Bishop Mutsaerts has become one of the best-known conservative bishops in Europe through his outspoken interventions on synodality, Church reform and secularisation in the West. In 2018 Bishop Mutsaerts withdrew from the Synod on Young People in Rome amid the clerical abuse crisis, saying the timing of the gathering was inappropriate. He later emerged as a strong critic of the Synod on the Amazon in 2019, warning that proposals discussed there had opened “a Pandora’s box”. The bishop became particularly critical of the Synodal Process initiated under Pope Francis. Writing about diocesan consultations, he said they risked giving “a megaphone to non-ecclesial views”. The bishop wrote: “Because of the statements of those who disagree with the teachings of the Catholic Church, which the bishops were supposed to document and forward to Rome, the result at the Synod would be a lottery of opinions; this was a recipe for disaster.” In another intervention he stated: “God is not involved in this accursed Synodal Process. The Holy Spirit has absolutely nothing to do with it.” During the Covid-19 pandemic Bishop Mutsaerts was also among the signatories of an appeal promoted by former Vatican nuncio, now excommunicated, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò entitled Veritas liberabit vos! , which criticised restrictions imposed during the coronavirus outbreak. The statement complained that, under the pretext of the pandemic, “the rights and fundamental freedoms of many citizens are being disproportionately and unjustifiably restricted”. It also warned against “foreign powers” exploiting the crisis and referred to “forces interested in creating panic among the population”. Bishop Mutsaerts again attracted international attention in 2025 when he joined Bishops Joseph Strickland, Athanasius Schneider and Marian Eleganti at a “Prayer of Reparation” held in Pittsburgh following an LGBTQ pilgrimage connected to the Holy Year in Rome. At the event the bishops denounced “fornication” and “sodomy” and condemned what they described as the legitimisation of sins against the sixth commandment. The gathering was criticised by progressive Church figures in Germany. Auxiliary Bishop Ludger Schepers of Essen described the prayer event as “shameful” and “a scandalous sign of ecclesiastical narrow-mindedness”. No indication has yet been given about how long Bishop Mutsaerts will remain away from public ministry while recovering from his injuries.