Cardinal Sarah on SSPX: ‘faith can never lead us to renounce obedience to the Church’
The African cardinal joins Cardinal Müller in opposing the SSPX's planned episcopal consecrations, as prelates continue to air differing arguments over the issue.
VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Cardinal Robert Sarah has issued a plea to the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) not to proceed with episcopal consecrations, writing that “to leave Peter’s boat and organize ourselves autonomously and in a closed circle is to surrender ourselves to the waves of the storm.”
In a forthright article published in French on February 22, Cdl. Sarah became the latest prominent prelate to address the current issue of the SSPX’s planned episcopal consecrations.
Sarah wrote of his “deep concern and sadness” upon hearing of the SSPX’s plan to consecrate new bishops.
“We are told that this decision to disobey Church law is motivated by the supreme law of the salvation of souls: suprema lex, salus animarum,” he wrote, before asking: “But salvation is Christ, and He is only given in the Church. How can we claim to lead souls to salvation by means other than those He Himself has indicated to us?” {The full statement is found at the bottom of this article}
Sarah – a curial official for 20 years – was prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from November 2014 to February 2021, before being replaced by Cardinal Arthur Roche.
A known defender of liturgical tradition, Sarah appeared to express sympathy for the Society’s concerns, writing that:
“I am well aware that some forget that only the chain in the unbroken continuity of the life of the Church, the proclamation of the faith, and the celebration of the sacraments, which we call Tradition, gives us the guarantee that what we believe is the original message of Christ transmitted by the apostles.”
But in spite of this reality, Cdl. Sarah cautioned the Society “that at the heart of the Catholic faith is our mission to follow Christ, who became obedient unto death. Can we really do without following Christ in his humility unto the Cross? Is it not a betrayal of Tradition to take refuge in human means maintain our works, however good they may be?”
“We are told that this [consecration of bishops to cater for the faithful"] is out of fidelity to the previous Magisterium, but who can guarantee this to us except Peter’s successor himself?,” wrote Sarah.
The African cardinal’s strident text admitted widespread corruption in doctrine within the Church. He wrote of his sorrow upon seeing “the cowardice of Christians and even prelates who renounce teaching the deposit of faith and prefer their personal opinions on matters of doctrine and morality,” while later adding “I know full well that often even within the church itself, there are wolves disguised as lambs.”
But citing St. Catherine of Siena’s warning of union with the Pope, and also how Padre Pio was “unjustly condemned,” Sarah argued that “we can affirm that the best way to defend the faith, Tradition and authentic liturgy will always be to follow the obedient Christ.”
Sarah’s intervention comes just 24-hours after Cardinal Gerhard Müller also firmly warned against the planned consecrations.
Both cardinals however are more firmly opposed to the SSPX’s plans than Bishop Athanasius Schneider, who – though not a Roman Curial official – has direct experience with the SSPX due to being the Holy See’s Apostolic Visitor to the Society in 2015.
He has urged a dialogue between the Holy See and the Society based on better terms and also suggested that Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández is not helping the negotiations. “I fear that this harsh behavior, this uncompromising and imprudent behavior of the Holy See towards the SSPX, may be made partly by those who are motivated by ideological reasons,” Schneider said last week.
Cdl. Sarah’s full intervention is found below. For Per Mariam’s full and ongoing coverage of the SSPX episcopal consecrations, see our reports here.
Before it is too late! Appeal to unity of Cardinal Robert Sarah
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16).
With these words, Peter, questioned by the Master about his faith in Him, sums up the heritage that the Church, through apostolic succession, has preserved, deepened, and transmitted for two thousand years: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that is, the only Savior.
These clear words of Pope Leo XIV on Peter’s faith, spoken the day after his election, still resonate in my soul.
The Holy Father thus summarizes the mystery of faith that bishops, successors of the apostles, must never cease to proclaim.
But where can we find Jesus Christ, the one Redeemer? St. Augustine answers us clearly: “Where the Church is, there is Christ.” That is why our concern for the salvation of souls is expressed in our solicitude to lead them to the one source, which is Christ, who gives himself in his Church.
Only the Church is the ordinary way to salvation, and therefore it is the only place where faith is transmitted in its entirety. It is the only place where the life of grace is fully given to us through the sacraments.
Within the Church, there is a center, an obligatory point of reference: the Church of Rome, governed by the Successor of Peter, the Pope. “And I say to you,” said Jesus, “that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18).
I would also like to express my deep concern and sadness at the announcement by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Lefebvre, that it will proceed with episcopal ordinations without papal mandate.
We are told that this decision to disobey Church law is motivated by the supreme law of the salvation of souls: suprema lex, salus animarum.
But salvation is Christ, and He is only given in the Church. How can we claim to lead souls to salvation by means other than those He Himself has indicated to us? Is it to desire the salvation of souls to tear apart the mystical body of Christ in a way that may be irreversible? How many souls are in danger of being lost because of this new division?
We are told that this act is intended to defend Tradition and the faith. I know how much the deposit of faith is sometimes despised today by those very people whose mission it is to defend it. I am well aware that some forget that only the chain in the unbroken continuity of the life of the Church, the proclamation of the faith, and the celebration of the sacraments, which we call Tradition, gives us the guarantee that what we believe is the original message of Christ transmitted by the apostles. But I also know, and firmly believe, that at the heart of the Catholic faith is our mission to follow Christ, who became obedient unto death. Can we really do without following Christ in his humility unto the Cross? Is it not a betrayal of Tradition to take refuge in human means maintain our works, however good they may be?
Our supernatural faith in the indefectibility of the Church can lead us to say with Christ, “My soul is sorrowful even unto death” (Mt26:38) when we see the cowardice of Christians and even prelates who renounce teaching the deposit of faith and prefer their personal opinions on matters of doctrine and morality. But faith can never lead us to renounce obedience to the Church.
Saint Catherine of Siena, who did not hesitate to rebuke cardinals and even the pope, exclaimed: “Always obey the pastor of the Church, for he is the guide whom Christ has appointed to lead souls to Him.” The good of souls can never be achieved through deliberate disobedience, for the good of souls is a supernatural reality. Let us not reduce salvation to a worldly game of media pressure!
Who will give us the certainty that we are truly in touch with the source of salvation? Who will guarantee we have not mistaken our opinion for the truth? Who will protect us from subjectivism? Who will guarantee that we are still nourished by the one Tradition that comes to us from Christ? Who will guarantee that we are not preceding Providence and that we should follow it, allowing ourselves to be guided by its instructions?
To these agonizing questions, there is only one answer which was given by Christ to the apostles: “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Lk 10:16; Jn 20:23) How can we take responsibility for straying from this one certainty?
We are told that this is out of fidelity to the previous Magisterium, but who can guarantee this to us except Peter’s successor himself? This is a matter of faith. “Whoever disobeys the Pope, who represents Christ in heaven, will not share in the blood of the Son of God,” said St. Catherine of Siena. This is not a matter of worldly loyalty to a man and his personal ideas. It is not a matter of personality cult of the pope. It is not a matter of obeying the pope would express his own ideas or opinions. It is a matter of obeying the pope who says like Jesus: “my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me” (Jn 7:16)
It is a supernatural view of canonical obedience that guarantees our bond with Christ himself. It is the only guarantee that our fight for the faith, Catholic morality, and liturgical Tradition, will not stray into ideology. Christ has given us no other sure sign. To leave Peter’s boat and organize ourselves autonomously and in a closed circle is to surrender ourselves to the waves of the storm.
I know full well that often even within the church itself, there are wolves disguised as lambs. Did not Christ himself warn us? But the best protection against error remains our canonical attachment to the successor of Peter. “It is Christ himself, who wants us to remain in unity, and even when wounded by the scandals of bad shepherds not to abandon the church,” Saint Augustine tells us.
How can we remain insensitive to Jesus’ anguished prayer: “Father, may they then be one, as we are one” (Jn 17:22) How can we continue to tear apart his body under the pretext of saving souls? Is it not he Jesus who saves? Is it we and our structures that save souls? Is it not through our unity that the world will believe and be saved? This unity is first and foremost that of the Catholic faith, it is also that of charity, and finally that of obedience.
I would like to remind you that Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina was unjustly condemned by men of the church during his lifetime. Although God had given him a special grace to help the souls of sinners, he was forbidden to hear confessions for 12 years! What did he do? Did he disobey in the name of saving souls? Did he rebel in the name of fidelity to God? No, he remained silent. He entered into crucifying obedience, certain that his humanity would be more fruitful than his rebellion, he wrote: “the good Lord has made me know that obedience is the only thing that pleases him; it is for me, the only means of hoping for salvation and singing victory.”
We can affirm that the best way to defend the faith, Tradition and authentic liturgy will always be to follow the obedient Christ. Christ will never command us to break the unity of the Church.
I truly stand with the Cardinals Sarah and Mullier for two very simple reasons.
They are right.
Mass apostasy? You bet.
Starting with Cain and Abel, the weeds grow with the wheat until the end.
When Our Blessed Mother spoke of "Cardinals will oppose Cardinals and Bishops will opposed Bishops" She couldn't have been speaking of the groups that would rise up, deceived in their quest to fight for the Church, who have no Cardinals in their ranks.
Salvation of souls? No soul is saved through disobedience, no matter how noble and righteous the intentions.
None.
Better souls cleave to their Catholic Faith minus illicit Sacraments than that they become the very thing they mock.
There is no break in unity. That term is weaponized. Consecrating bishops with the express mission of ordaining priests and administering the sacrament of confirmation is fully obedient to the Church.