Talks to Replace Cardinal Sarah With Disciple of the Masonic Bugnini

Is Cardinal Sarah ready to be replaced and his successor Monsignor Vittorio Viola OFM?

(Rome) Cardinal Robert Sarah has made a public statement on the time of Corona. Previously, he had signed the call Veritas liberabit vos, but then withdrew his signature. At the same time, there were voices that his removal as Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Worship was imminent. Is there a connection?

Cardinal Sarah, one of nine Cardinal Prefects at the Roman Curia, is considered an "exotic" in the government of Pope Francis. This is not due to his origin from the African Gold Coast, but in his understanding of the Church, since he is much closer to that of Benedict XVI.

His dismissal and removal from the Vatican has therefore been expected for some time, as Cardinal Gerhard Müller, another signatory of the call, did in 2017. Francis has publicly rebuked Cardinal Sarah in the past for taking steps that run counter to the papal agenda. So far, there have been two particularly glaring cases. Once in 2016/17 because of Sarah's invitation to all priests to return to the celebration ad orientem. There was a great deal of outrage in progressive circles, which were particularly close to the Pope. A debate on this was categorically rejected. Francis intervened personally by reassuring his entourage and declaring Sarah's advance null and void. The cardinal himself did not move away from his position, but was isolated from Santa Marta within his own dicastery and has no direct influence on the leadership of the universal Church.

The second case concerns the book "From the Depth of the Heart" published at the beginning of 2020 by Cardinal Sarah together with Benedict XVI in defence of the sacramental priesthood and priestly celibacy. Since the cardinal works prominently in the Vatican, the papal anger against Curial Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who is on leave as head of the Prefecture of the Pontifical House, was shown the door, in short.

Cardinal Sarah was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments by Pope Francis himself in November 2014, which was considered a sensation. So far, only "Ratzingerians" who he had taken over from his predecessor have been dismissed by Francis. The dismissal of Cardinal Sarah would be an admission of a misstep-decision. Francis has so far been not so blatant, although there have been no shortage of cases and dismissals. In order to protect the papal image, it was preferable to resort to acrobatic explanations.

The most senior offices in the Roman Curia, those of the Prefects of the Congregations, are also limited to five years, with the possibility of extension. Cardinal Sarah's term of office expired on 24 November 2019. Until the end of the regular term, Francis had waited with Cardinal Müller and then promptly, informally and spitefully threw him from office.

This has not yet happened to Cardinal Sarah. However, the purple bearer from Guinea literally hangs in the air. The regular term expired without Francis confirming a second term. This allows Cardinal Sarah to be dismissed at any time, which can be understood as a means of exerting pressure.

Cardinal Sarah, one of the Church's most prominent cardinals, who, along with the much more supple Cardinal Peter Turkson, is regarded as the only African papabile, does not seem to be impressed by this, as the aforementioned book with Benedict XVI showed, with which he blew up the Amazon agenda. However, his uncertain status cannot leave him unaffected, as the withdrawal of his signature under the call Veritas liberabit vos shows. He justified the withdrawal on the grounds that he
was discouraged by "friends," according to the evidence published by Archbishop Vigano, Cardinal Sarah supports the concern of the appeal, which he considers to be very important. Due to his active position in the Roman Curia, however, he considered it wiser to withdraw his initial signature shortly after the publication of the call.

The potential successor?

Whether this is enough for the papal suite remains to be seen. The traditional Messa in Latino site wrote last Saturday that Pope Francis intends to sack the cardinal when he turns 75 on June 15. The 55-year-old Franciscan Vittorio Viola, Bishop of Tortona, is in talks to succeed Sarah. Viola, a liturgical scholar with a doctorate, is also a professor at the Roman Benedictine College of Sant'Anselmo.

The fact is that Monsignor Viola was ordained a priest in 1993 by his mentor, the Lazarist Luca Brandolini, then Auxiliary Bishop of Rome (1987-1993). Monsignor Brandolini was appointed Bishop of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo from 1993 to 2009. Brandolini, now 87, was a student and collaborator of Monsignor Annibale Bugnini, creator of Novus Ordo. The bishop's ring of Bugnini, who died in 1982, was worn by his pupil Brandolini in 1987, who in turn passed it on to his protégé viola in 2014. On 15 October 2014, Viola was appointed Bishop of Tortona by Pope Francis in Liguria and consecrated on 7 April of the same year.

Monsignor Viola was considered a promising candidate to succeed Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, former chairman of the Italian Episcopal Conference under Benedict XVI, to the archbishop's chair of Genoa. On 8 May, Francis actually appointed a Franciscan, and not Monsignor Viola, but Fr. Marco Tasca, who until 2019 was the 119th successor to St. Francis of Assisi, who was Minister General of the Franciscan Order.

In traditional circles, the plight of Viola was feared, whose aversion to the traditional rite about the Bugnini – Brandolini line seems to have been passed on to him like the Bishop's Ring. The spirit of this is illustrated by Brandolini's words in 2007, when Pope Benedict XVI enforced the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Brandolini, then a member of the Liturgy Commission of the Italian Episcopal Conference, said,  as the progressive Vaticanist Marco Politi documented in his book "Benedict: Crisis of a Pontificate" (original edition 2011, German edition 2012):

"Today is a sad day for me ... I can hardly hold back my tears."

Apodictically, he added:

"A reform has been undone, for which many have worked and made great sacrifices, animated solely by the desire to renew the Church."

Together with the appointment of Fr. Tasca as the new Archbishop of Genoa, there were voices that Monsignor Viola would replace Cardinal Robert Sarah as Prefect of the Congregation for Worship in June. Messa in Latino wrote:

"We are not happy at all: he is a friend and protégé of Brandolini (who theatrically said the day after the Summorum Pontificum that he had cried and that this was "a day of mourning for those who worked here in the Liturgical Commission") who ordained him a priest. And he is a protégé of Sorrentino (former secretary of the Congregation of Divine Worship, who was chased away by Ratzinger and sent to Assisi) who ordained him bishop. In addition, His Excellency is a Franciscan (who is not known to be 'Orthodox' in liturgical matters)."

This refers to Monsignor Domenico Sorrentino, who in 2001 was appointed by John Paul II as Prelate of the Territorial Prelature of Pompei or the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Holy Rosary and Archbishop ad personam. In 2003 he was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for Worship to the Roman Curia. A few months after Benedict XVI was elected. He removed Sorrentino because of the liturgical ideas of the Roman Curia, by appointing him Bishop of Assisi.

"We are still expecting difficult times. We hope to be wrong," Messa in Latino said about the prospect of Cardinal Sarah being replaced by Monsignor Viola.

According to Gloria.tv (French and English), the French Catholic magazine L'Homme Nouveau also reported this rumour on 9 May. A report that would be significant because Cardinal Sarah is closely associated with the magazine.

Covid-19 and the Christian Cult: a letter from Cardinal Sarah

The fact is that on 8 May L'Homme Nouveau published a detailed statement by Cardinal Sarah on Corona, calling on bishops around the world to learn "some lessons" from the current situation. The publication came a day after the call for Veritas liberabit vos, from which it differs in two respects. Cardinal Sarah does not appear here as a signatory among several, but in his function as Prefect of the Congregation for Worship. In addition, it focuses less on the radical government measures and their backgrounds and effects, but on pastoral and liturgical aspects.

What the two texts have in common is the defence of the rights of the Church. He writes:

"Christian believers also have the right and the duty to defend their religious freedom resolutely and without prejudice. A secular mentality regards religious activities as secondary activities in the service of people's well-being, such as leisure and cultural activities. This view is radically wrong. Praise and adoration are objectively due to God. We owe Him this adoration because He is our Creator and our Saviour. The public expression of Catholic worship is not a concession by the state to the subjectivity of the faithful. It is an objective right of God. It is an inalienable right of every person."

Also:

"I would therefore like to pay tribute to the priests and religious men and women who have ensured the continuity of public Catholic worship in the countries most affected by the pandemic."

God allows natural disasters because he wants to educate his people.

"We have often disregarded the holiness of our churches. We have turned them into concert halls, restaurants or dormitories for the poor, refugees or migrants. St. Peter's Basilica and almost all of our cathedrals, living expressions of the faith of our ancestors, have become great museums that have been trampled underfoot and desecrated before our eyes by a lamentable march of tourists who are often incredulous and do not respect the holy sites and temples of the living God. Today, through a disease he did not necessarily want, God offers us the grace to feel how much we miss our churches. God offers us the grace to know that we need this house in which He lives in the midst of our towns and villages. We need a place, a sacred building, reserved exclusively for God. We need a place that is more than just a functional space for gatherings and cultural entertainment. A church is a place where everything is guided by the glory of God, the worship of His Majesty."

"We could repeat the same words about Sunday, the Day of the Lord, the sanctuary of the week. Have we not desecrated it by making it a working day, a day of pure worldly entertainment? Today it is sorely missed. The days are all the same."

"Today's Western mentality, shaped by technology and fascinated by the media, sometimes wanted to make the liturgy an effective and profitable pedagogical work. With this in mind, we have tried to make the celebrations friendly and attractive. Liturgical actors, inspired by pastoral motivations, sometimes wanted to do educational work by bringing profane or spectacular elements into the celebrations. Have we not seen testimonies, stagings and applause flourish? We believe in promoting the participation of believers and in reality reducing the liturgy to a human game. There is a real danger that we will leave no room for God in our celebrations."

"As for us, the priests, have we always been aware that we were appointed as servants, as servants of the worship of the Most High God? Do we live, as the prophet Ezekiel says, without having a different heritage on this earth than God Himself? We, on the other hand, were very often secular. We searched for popularity and success according to the criteria of the world. We also have profaned the sanctuary of the Lord. Some of us have even gone so far as to desecrate this holy temple of God's presence: the hearts and bodies of the most vulnerable, of children. We too must ask for forgiveness, repent, and make amends."

"A society that loses its sense of the sacred runs the risk of falling back on barbarism. Understanding the greatness of God is the heart of every civilization. In fact, it is because if every human being deserves respect, it is because he is created in the image and likeness of God. The dignity of man is a echo of God's transcendence. If we no longer tremble with joyful and reverent fear before the divine majesty, how can we see in every human being a mystery that deserves respect? If we no longer want to kneel humbly and as a sign of childlike love before God, how can we kneel before the outstanding dignity of every human being created in the image and image of God? If we no longer accept kneeling respectfully and in adoration before the humblest, weakest and most insignificant, but most real and vibrant presence of the Holy Eucharist, how can we hesitate to kill the weakest and most fragile, the unborn child and legalise abortion, which is a terrible and barbaric crime? Today we know the truth thanks to the progress of genetics, which has established it definitively and irrefutably scientifically: the human fetus is a completely human being from the very beginning. If we lose our sense of worship, human relationships will be marked by vulgarity and aggressiveness. The more respectful we are of God in our churches, the more sensitive and polite we will be to our brothers for the rest of our lives."

"Finally, I would like to insist on prayer for the deceased. In many countries, the deceased had to be buried without being properly celebrated. We must make good this injustice. I would also like to deplore some recent practices that encourage new ways of removing the remains, including alkaline hydrolysis, where the body of the deceased is placed in a metal cylinder and dissolved in a chemical bath that leaves only a few bone fragments similar to those of cremation. The waste water is then discharged into the sewer system. The process of alkaline hydrolysis shows no respect for the dignity of the human body as proclaimed by the law of the Church. Even if we have no faith, it is absolutely inhumane, cruel and disrespectful to treat people we love and who have loved us so much. 'Do you not know that you are God's temple and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Whoever destroys the temple of God will destroy Him. For God's temple is holy, and you are. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you and which you have of God? You do not belong to yourself (1 Cor 3:16-17; 6:19)."

The cardinal concludes his execution with a quotation from Dei Verbum:

"In fact, the tradition received by the Apostles encompasses all that contributes to the life of the people of God in a sacred manner and to strengthen their faith."

Text: Giuseppe
Nardi Picture: Notre-Dame de Chrétienté/Sette Giorni (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG