Cardinal Sarah: ‘Why have we turned the liturgy into a battlefield?’

The cardinal highlighted the lively faith of Latin Mass devotees, while Abp. Gänswein urged swift resolution to Pope Francis' restrictions.

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — “Why have we turned the liturgy into a battlefield?,” Cardinal Robert Sarah has asked, as he opined on Leo XIV’s likely decisions regarding the traditional Mass.

As prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) from 2014 through 2021, Robert Cardinal Sarah has more authority than most when addressing questions of the liturgy. He is known for his defense of reverence in the liturgy, advocating for such elements as ad orientem worship, reception of Communion kneeling and on the tongue, and has also given voice to advocating for the traditional Mass.

Speaking to Tribune Chrétienne last week, Sarah lamented the rekindling of the liturgy wars. “We have turned the Mass into a battlefield — traditionalist, progressive, this and that — and we are profaning the Eucharist,” he said.

Cardinal Sarah in Rome, Oct 2023. ©Michael Haynes

For the cardinal, this is all the more egregious since the Mass “is the only time when man is in face-to-face relationship with God. It is the only time when man is in direct contact with God, when God listens to him, when he speaks to God.”

Harkening back to the phrase quoted by Pope Benedict XVI in Summorum Pontificum – Lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of prayer, the law of belief) – Sarah reiterated the link between liturgy and spirituality: “As we believe, so we pray.”

“If people don’t believe, then nothing will change,” he warned. “We continue to fight over liturgy, we continue to bully certain people.”

The Guinean prelate did not condemn any group or individual by name, but instead praised Catholics devoted to the traditional liturgy of the Church as an example of lived faith:

But when we really look at Christians who practice today, they are the ones who go to traditional Mass. So why forbid them? On the contrary, we should encourage them.

I don’t know what the Pope will do, but he is aware of this battle. He is aware of this difficulty.

Much has been speculated about what Leo XIV’s response will be to the question of the traditional liturgy, following the crippling restrictions imposed by his predecessor.

Cardinal Raymond Burke publicly revealed in June that he had already taken the opportunity to speak to the new Pope about the future of the traditional Mass. With the American cardinal being a prominent champion of the traditional liturgy, it seems likely that he has been using his presence in Rome to continue that cause.

Burke has since had a papal audience and will prominently offer the traditional Mass in the Vatican for an annual pilgrimage next weekend.

Cardinal Burke to offer Latin Mass in Vatican for annual pilgrimage

Sarah also met with Leo in audience in recent weeks, and though the conversation was private he noted to Tribune Chrétienne that he had the chance to raise the question of the traditional Mass with Leo.

But the cardinal also urged patience and restraint. “The Pope is the father of each and every one of us,” Sarah said. “He is the father of traditionalists. He is the father of progressives, the father of everyone. We cannot ignore his children. Everyone has their own character, their own sensibilities. We must take everyone into account. I think he will try to act in this spirit.”

Archbishop Gänswein on the need for ‘urgent healing’

Just as forthright as Cdl. Sarah’s were the comments made by Archbishop Georg Gänswein a few weeks prior. Now serving as Nuncio to Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, Gänswein was the longtime secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, and thus has a unique view of Pope Francis’ dismantling of Benedict’s attempt to implement liturgical peace.