LONDON (ENGLAND)
Catholic Herald
October 9, 2019
By Cindy Wooden
The cardinal said accusations that he is against Pope Francis are ‘diabolical’
Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, said the people who portray him as an opponent of Pope Francis are being used by the devil to help divide the Church.
“The truth is that the Church is represented on earth by the vicar of Christ, that is by the Pope. And whoever is against the Pope is, ipso facto, outside the Church,” the cardinal said in an interview published on October 7 in Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily.
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The Corriere piece was published to coincide with the release of a new book-length interview with Cardinal Sarah, “The Day is Now Far Spent.” The English edition was released on September 22 by Ignatius Press in the United States.
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“I would add that every Pope is right for his time,” the cardinal said. “Providence looks after us very well, you know.”
However, Cardinal Sarah’s new book is filled with warnings about how a lack of faith, trust in God and adherence to tradition is threatening the Catholic Church, particularly in Europe and the wealthy West. But he especially focuses on clerical sexual abuse and how that has meant “the mystery of betrayal oozes from the walls of the Church.”
Still, in the chapter, “The Crisis of the Church,” the book includes the cardinal saying, “I would like to remind everyone about Jesus’ words to St Peter, ‘You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church’ (Mt 16:18). We have the assurance that this saying of Jesus is realized in what we call the infallibility of the Church. The spouse of Christ, headed by the successor of Peter, can live through crises and storms.”
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