FULL TEXT Cdl. Sarah’s warning call to Africa’s bishops: ‘the Church is dying’
FULL TEXT Cdl. Sarah’s warning call to Africa’s bishops: ‘the Church is dying’
Cdl. Sarah issued a wide-ranging call to action for Africa's bishops in the face of numerous crises in the Church, in a speech published now in English on PerMariam.
ROME (PerMariam) — Cardinal Robert Sarah, the former prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship, has delivered a strident speech aimed at galvanizing African’s bishops into leading a charge for Catholic doctrine throughout the Church.
“To preserve the spirit of faith is to renounce all compromise, is to refuse to see things any other way than through faith. It means holding our hand in God's hand,” stated Cdl. Sarah on April 9.
A summary report on Cdl. Sarah’s speech has been published by this reporter on LifeSiteNews, and the full text is now published below in an English translation by kind permission of Sandro Magister, who first published it in Italian.
The cardinal made his comments while undertaking a current tour through parts of Africa for various events. April 9 saw him address the assembled bishops of Cameroon, who made international news in late December when they issued perhaps the strongest rejection of Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández’s Fiducia Supplicans, which proposed blessings for same-sex couples.
In his speech, the former Congregation for Divine Worship prefect deals with numerous topics and with such a forthright nature, that it ranks among one of the strongest public interventions in recent years made by one of the college of cardinals.
He praised the Cameroon bishops for their rejection of Fiducia Supplicans, saying that they “have greatly and profoundly served the unity of the Church.”
He made numerous, thinly-veiled rebuffs at statements made either by Pope Francis or from key members of the Synod on Synodality, with a manner of clarity which comes as a striking contrast to the customary Vatican curialese style of diplomacy and argumentation.
He directly attacked a number of projects, which – though they run contrary to Catholic Tradition and teaching – are proposed by vocal advocates in the Church, such as female deacons, married priests, merging of the ordained and baptized priesthood, and Amoris Laetitia’s controversial argumentation on the priority of conscience over doctrine.
He urged the African bishops to lead the way at the October 2024 session of the Synod on Synodality, saying “it is essential that African bishops speak in the name of unity of faith and not in the name of particular cultures.”
He accused many members of the Synod of making empty promises to listen to Africa, but turning away when the African bishops promote Catholic teaching.
He accused the Synod itself of being manipulated in order to “serve a worldly reform agenda.”
Most strikingly he made two claims: firstly he accused “many Western prelates” of being “paralyzed by the idea of opposing the world,” arguing that they had been won over by the “dream of being loved.”
Secondly he made the declaration that “the Church is dying, infested with bitterness and partisan spirit, and only the spirit of faith can ground genuine fraternal benevolence. The world is dying, devoured by lies and rivalry, and only the spirit of faith can bring it peace.”
The text is of undeniable significance, especially given the prominence of the cardinal himself. Now 78, Cdl. Sarah has served in the Roman Curia under Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. He spent 9 years as secretary for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, now the prominent Dicastery for Evangelization. Then Cdl. Sarah spent four years as Prefect of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which had charge of the “the care of the Catholic Church for the needy.” Following this, the eminent liturgist spent over six years as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
His assessment, therefore, of the Church’s position both in its liturgy, its practical applications of the moral and charitable laws, and its implementation of the duty to evangelize, are not to be taken lightly.
As noted, a full report and summary can be found at LifeSite. But through kind permission of widely-respected veteran Vaticanist Sandro Magister, PerMariam is very pleased to publish a translated version of the text of Cdl. Sarah’s speech as originally published by Magister in Italian and French. Section headings have been added by PerMariam to break up the text for ease of reading.
English translation of Cdl. Sarah’s speech as published by Sandro Magister
Dear brother bishops of Cameroon, in your courageous and prophetic statement of December 21 on the issue of homosexuality and the blessing of “homosexual couples,” recalling Catholic doctrine on this issue, you have greatly and profoundly served the unity of the Church. You have accomplished a work of pastoral charity by recalling the truth. [...]
Some in the West have wanted to make it appear that you have acted in the name of an African cultural particularism. It is false and ridiculous to attribute such intentions to you! Some have claimed, in a logic of intellectual neocolonialism, that Africans were “not yet” ready to bless same-sex couples for cultural reasons. As if the West was ahead of backward Africans.
No! You spoke for the whole Church “in the name of the truth of the Gospel and for the human dignity and salvation of all mankind in Jesus Christ.” You have spoken in the name of the one Lord, the one faith of the Church. When should the truth of the faith, the teaching of the Gospel, be subjugated to particular cultures? This vision of a faith adapted to cultures reveals to what extent relativism divides and corrupts the unity of the Church.
Some in Synod pushing ‘program of reforms’
Dear brother bishops, this is a point that demands to be guarded with great vigilance in view of the upcoming session of the Synod. We know that some, although they say otherwise, are preparing to advocate a program of reforms in it. Among these is the destructive idea that the truth of the faith should be received differentially according to places, cultures and peoples.
This idea is but a misrepresentation of the dictatorship of relativism, so strongly denounced by Benedict XVI. It aims to allow violations of doctrine and morality in certain places under the pretext of cultural adaptation. It would like to allow female diaconate in Germany, married priests in Belgium, confusion between ordained priesthood and baptismal priesthood in the Amazon. Some recently appointed theological experts do not hide their plans. And they will tell you with false kindness, “Rest assured, in Africa, we will not impose this kind of innovation on you. You are not culturally ready.”
But we, successors of the apostles, were ordained not to promote and defend our cultures, but the universal unity of the faith! We act, in your words, bishops of Cameroon, "in the name of the truth of the Gospel and for the human dignity and salvation of all humanity in Jesus Christ." This truth is the same everywhere, in Europe as in Africa and the United States. For human dignity is the same everywhere.
African bishops are now the defenders of the faith
It seems that by a mysterious design of providence it is now precisely the African episcopates who are the defenders of the universality of the faith against the proponents of a fragmented truth, the defenders of the unity of the faith against the proponents of cultural relativism. Yet Jesus was explicit in the mandate given to the apostles, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:19-20). Indeed, it is to all nations that the apostles were sent to preach both the faith and Gospel morality.
In the upcoming session of the synod, it is essential that African bishops speak in the name of unity of faith and not in the name of particular cultures. In the previous session, the Church of Africa strongly defended the dignity of man and woman created by God, but its voice was ignored and scorned by those whose only obsession is to please Western lobbies. The Church of Africa will soon have to defend the truth of the priesthood and the unity of the faith. The Church of Africa is the voice of the poor, the simple and the small. It is up to her to proclaim the Word of God in the face of the Christians of the West who, because they are rich, believe themselves to be evolved, modern and wise in the wisdom of the world. But “what is foolishness of God is wiser than men” (1 Cor. 1:25).
It is therefore not surprising that the bishops of Africa in their poverty are today the heralds of this divine truth in the face of the power and wealth of certain episcopates of the West, for “what is foolish to the world, God has chosen to confound the wise; what is weak to the world, God has chosen to confound the strong; what is vile and despised to the world, what is nothing, God has chosen to reduce to nothingness the things that are” (1 Cor. 1:28).
But will people have the courage to listen to them in the next session of the Synod on Synodality? Or should we think that, despite promises to listen and respect them, their warnings will not be heeded, as we already see today? Should we think that the synod will be instrumentalized by those who, under the cover of listening to one another and “conversation in the Spirit,” serve a worldly reform agenda? Every successor of the apostles must have the courage to take seriously the words of Jesus, "Let your speech be, 'Yes, yes,' 'No, no'; the more is from the Evil One" (Mt. 5:37).
‘Subjectivity,’ ‘conscience’ and a ‘sign of contradiction’
Dear brother bishops, sometimes we are told that we have not understood the spirit of the Second Vatican Council that would impose a new approach to the objectivity of faith. Some tell us that Vatican II, without changing the faith itself, would change the relationship with the faith. They tell us that from now on what is more important for a bishop is the reception of individuals in their subjectivity rather than the proclamation of the content of the revealed message. Everything should be relationship and dialogue, and we should relegate the proclamation of the “kérygma” and the proclamation of the faith to the background, as if these realities were contrary to the good of people. [...]
I believe that clarifying this question definitively will be an important task of the years to come, and certainly of a future pontificate. In truth we already know the answer. But the Magisterium will have to teach it with definitive solemnity. There is behind this question a kind of psychological fear that has spread in the West: the fear of being in contradiction with the world. As Benedict XVI said, “In our time, the Church remains a 'sign of contradiction’” (Luke 2:34).
It is not without reason that Pope John Paul II, when he was still a cardinal, gave this title to the spiritual exercises preached in 1976 to Pope Paul VI and the Roman Curia. The Council could not have intended to abolish this contradiction of the Gospel regarding the dangers and errors of man. On the contrary, “it was certainly its intention to set aside erroneous or superfluous contradictions, in order to present to this world of ours the requirement of the Gospel in all its grandeur and purity” (Benedict XVI, Dec. 22, 2005).
But many Western prelates are paralyzed by the idea of opposing the world. By the world they dream of being loved. They have lost the will to be a sign of contradiction. Perhaps excessive material wealth leads to compromise with world affairs. Poverty is a guarantee of being free for God. I think the Church of our time is living the temptation of atheism. Not intellectual atheism, but this subtle and dangerous condition of spirit: fluid and practical atheism. The latter is a dangerous disease even if its first symptoms seem benign. [...]
We must become aware of it: this fluid atheism runs through the veins of contemporary culture. It never says its name but infiltrates everywhere, even in ecclesiastical discourse. Its first effect is a form of drowsiness of faith. It anesthetizes our ability to react, to recognize error, danger. It has spread in the Church. [...]
What should we do? Perhaps you will be told that this is how the world is made and you cannot escape it. Perhaps you will be told that the Church must adapt or die. Perhaps you will be told that since the essentials are safe you must be flexible about the details. Perhaps you will be told that truth is theoretical but that particular cases escape it. So many maxims that confirm the serious disease that grips us all!
Reject the ‘lie’ of atheism
I would rather invite you to think differently. We must not give in to the lie! The essence of fluid atheism is the promise of accommodation between truth and lies. It is the greatest temptation of our time! We are all guilty of accommodation, of complicity with this great lie that is fluid atheism! We pretend to be Christian believers and men of faith, we celebrate religious rites, but in reality we live as pagans and unbelievers. Make no mistake, you do not fight with this enemy, who always ends up taking you away. Fluid atheism is slippery and slimy. If you attack it, it will trap you in its subtle compromises. It is like a spider's web, the more you agitate against it, the more it closes around you. Fluid atheism is the final trap of the Tempter, of Satan.
He lures you onto his own ground. If you follow him, you will be led to use his weapons: lies, dissimulation and compromise. He foments around himself confusion, division, resentment, bitterness and factionalism. Look at the state the Church is in! Everywhere there is nothing but dissension and suspicion. Fluid atheism lives and feeds on all our little weaknesses, all our capitulations and compromises with its lies. [...]
With all my heart as a pastor, I want to invite you today to make this decision. We must not create parties in the Church. We must not proclaim ourselves the saviors of this or that institution. This would all contribute to the game of the adversary. But each of us can decide today: the lie of atheism will no longer find a place in me. I no longer want to renounce the light of faith, I no longer want, out of convenience, laziness or conformity, to have light and darkness cohabit in me. It is a very simple decision, at once interior and concrete. It will change our lives. It is not about going to war. It is not about denouncing enemies. When we cannot change the world, we can change ourselves. If each person humbly decided so, the system of lies would collapse on its own, because its only strength is the place we make for it within ourselves. [...]
Dear brother bishops, by offering us faith God opens His hand for us to put ours there and let Him lead us. What will we be afraid of? The essential thing is to hold our hand firmly in His! Our faith is this deep connection with God Himself. “I know in whom I have put my faith,” says St. Paul (2 Tim 1:12). In the face of fluid atheism, faith gains essential importance. It is both the treasure we want to defend and the strength that enables us to defend ourselves.
To preserve the spirit of faith is to renounce all compromise, is to refuse to see things any other way than through faith. It means holding our hand in God's hand. I deeply believe that this is the only possible source of peace and gentleness. Holding our hand in God's is the guarantee of true benevolence without complicity, true gentleness without cowardice, true strength without violence.
I also want to emphasize how faith is a source of joy. How can we not be in joy when we have entrusted ourselves to the One who is the source of joy? An attitude of faith is demanding, but it is not rigid and tense. We seek to be happy as we reach out to Him. Faith generates strength and joy together. “The Lord is my fortress, of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps. 27:1). The Church is dying, infested with bitterness and partisan spirit, and only the spirit of faith can ground genuine fraternal benevolence. The world is dying, devoured by lies and rivalry, and only the spirit of faith can bring it peace.