Evil Jesuit On Deck to Sign Death Warrant of Summorum Pontificum and Replace Cardinal Sarah

(Rome) For some time there are rumors becoming louder that the removal of Cardinal Robert Sarah as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is imminent. For the first time, a specific name is also given for his successor.

The rumors are not new, but they are growing. Cardinal Sarah, a churchman with an impressive résumé, is one of the most prominent princes of the Church of our time. In 2014 he was unexpectedly appointed Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship by Pope Francis. This appointment has since been considered to be the most notable “industrial accident” in Bergoglian personnel policy. In other words, Pope Francis, a mistake has been made in the lookout for the selection of candidates for the progressive candidates, by putting the churchman from Guinea in a key position.

Robert Sarah, who was ordained a priest for the diocese of Conakry in Guinea in 1969, received episcopal ordination and the appointment as Archbishop of Conakry at the young age of 34. The brutal persecution of the Church by the communist regime at the time forced him to take responsibility at an early stage. Pope John Paul II appointed him in 2001 to the Roman Curia and appointed him Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Pope Benedict XVI promoted him in 2010 as President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. In the same year, the German Pope created him cardinal.

The Pope and the Cardinal: Opposite Views

In Rome it is said that the “politics of gestures” that Pope Francis likes so much prompted him to accept a black African into the small circle of cardinal prefects of a Roman congregation. It quickly became clear, however, that both the understanding of the church and the opinions on current political issues between the Pope and the cardinal did not agree. Cardinal Sarah defended traditional marriage and the moral doctrine of the Church against attempts to recognize divorce and irregular unions, including those of homosexuals through the back door, as Pope Francis did with the Double Synod on the Family and putting into action his controversial post-synodal writing Amoris laetitia. The Cardinal did not hesitate, in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal with the name chastity as "the only answer to homosexual tendencies." Compare this statement with the notorious sentence of Pope Francis from July 2013, when he was supposed to take a position on homosexuality actually being lived out. Overall, the Cardinal warns of a homoheretical climate and asks, "It's not homo-correct to quote the Catechism."

Cardinal Sarah also disagreed on the mass migration promoted by Pope Francis in line with global elites. Likewise, Cardinal Sarah faced by Francis not only tolerated, but encouraged the objectively absurd neomalthusian-ecologistic thesis of the establishment, but alleged that  an urgent population reduction was necessary, otherwise the planet threatens an imminant CO2 collapse.

Celebration Ad Orientem

Cardinal Sarah also set very different accents than Pope Francis in his area of responsibility, the sacred liturgy.

After the Cardinal had asked all priests at a conference in London to celebrate ad orientem again, and thus give up a core of "protestantizing" liturgical reform of 1965/1969, the excitement in Rome was so great that Francis personally opposed Sarah. It says a lot about the stamina of black African that he still held to his call and that even repeated it.

At the same time, the isolation of the "industrial accident" became apparent, which was implemented by Pope Francis. Cardinal Sarah remained at the head of the Congregation for Worship, but was largely "neutralized" there. On the one hand, he “took refuge” in books, of which he has since submitted several and thus became an important spiritual point of reference for many believers worldwide. On the other hand, it could not go unnoticed that he was almost more often received by Benedict XVI. in the monastery Mater Ecclesiae, than Francis to whom he was bound to instruction.

Benedict XVI. also who holds his protective hand over the cardinal, who is now 75 years old and still looking young. In spring 2017, the German Pope made this known to the public and even more in Santa Marta:

"With Cardinal Sarah the liturgy is in good hands."

Before that, rumors had been growing that Francis intended to remove the rebellious Guinean from the Roman Curia because of his "attack" on the liturgical reform.

The Cardinal expressed his gratitude in a June 6, 2017 lecture in Milan with an equally clear statement:

“The contempt for Benedict XVI. is diabolical and covers the Church with shame."

 It would be too little to say that Cardinal Sarah is a kind of last “Ratzingerian” in such a high position. The purple bearer from Guinea represents an even more traditional understanding of the Church and liturgy than Benedict XVI, and he does this more consistently and more actively.

The words of Benedict XVI. have particular weight when he writes in the foreword to Sarah's book "The Power of Silence" :

"Cardinal Sarah has something to say to each of us."

The cardinal put  it drammatically in his third, in 2019 published book " Lord stay with us, for it is almost evening:"

"This book is the cry of my heart as a priest and shepherd."

 

Mater Ecclesiae instead of Santa Marta

The cardinal's close relationship with Benedict XVI, developed a special effectiveness in early 2020. When the publication of the post-synodal letter to Amazon Synod was imminent and the papal friend and celibacy opponents Cardinal Claudio Hummes, one of the organizers of the Synod, already announced to all the bishops the ominous statement that the contents of the post-synodal letter was to "accept" the opinion was already unanimous among the Vaticanistas: Francis will proclaim the beginning of the end of priestly celibacy. 

Then, however, a new book by Cardinal Sarah burst like a bomb in the room. Together with Benedict XVI. With “From the depths of the heart” he presented a plea for priestly celibacy and the sacrament of Holy Orders. Cardinal Sarah objected primarily to the widespread opinion in the Church, priestly celibacy is "just" a law of the Church.

Cardinal Sarah with Benedict XVI.

Pope Francis frothed, but his countermeasures were helpless. But above all happened one: In the post-synodal letter Querida Amazonia lacked the feared revolutionary steps.

The fighter nature of calm temperament and perseverance

The cardinal from Guinea is a fighter by nature, a man of clear words and, above all, calm gestures. In terms of temperament, he and Francis could hardly be more different. While the reigning Pope in his recent encyclical practiced the open shoulder to shoulder with the "ideals" of the French Revolution, Cardinal Sarah turned to the other side of the barricades with the words:

"Every Christian is spiritually a Vendéan."

 

The Catholic population of the Vendée, loyal to the king, rose from 1793–1796 against the injustice that came from the revolutionaries. The answer to this was the “columns of hell” of the revolution, which stifled the uprising in blood. At that time the term was of terrorism, which - significantly -  meant a state terrorism.

Cardinal Sarah also knows how answer the lies of the left by mercilessly disenchanting them in a few words. For example, when the Amazon Synod in 2019, he indicated that the postulated "poor of the Amazon" were the product of a "bourgeois Christianity," whom they actually abuse. 

Another area of Cardinal Sarah is particularly important is the reverence before the Holy Eucharist, which is why he repeats his call for the reception of Commuion by kneeling and overall lamented the situation:

"The trivialization of the altar and the sacred space surrounding it has become a spiritual catastrophe."

"If the liturgy is the work of Christ, there is no need for the celebrant to make his own comments."

And even more clearly:

"It's not like the variety of formulas and options, and the constant change of prayers and an outpouring of liturgical creativity that God wants, but metanoia, the radical interior conversion and repentance in our lives and our behavior that is seriously polluted by sin and is shaped by flowing atheism. " 

This is how his view of the traditional form of the Roman rite and its meaning is understood when he wrote in 2019:

"The devil wants us to suffocate, so he fights the traditional Rite." 

"What a deception and what an insult to all the saints who have gone before us."

"The poison of apostasy"

Cardinal Sarah holds up a mirror to the West, where Francis finds cryptic words at best. On January 12, 2017 , the cardinal wrote : "The West has become the grave of God":

“Western culture organized itself as if God did not exist. We killed him. Man no longer knows who he is, nor does he know where he is going."

 

“From the depths of the heart”, plea for priestly celibacy

The cardinal also transfers this political and social analysis to the Church when he writes in his book "Lord Remain With Us":

"A flowing atheism has penetrated the Church."

Specifically, this means: 

“I am talking about this poison, the flowing atheism, of which we are all victims. It infiltrates everything, including our speaking as priests. It consists in admitting ways of thinking and living that are radically pagan and secular in addition to faith. " 

“It shows that our beliefs have become fluid and inconsistent! The first reform to be pursued must be that in our hearts. It consists in no longer making pacts with lies. Faith is both the treasure we want to defend and the strength that enables us to defend it. " 

"We are at a turning point in the history of the Church." 

Cardinal Sarah does not dwell on "structural issues" that are so important to the political and ecclesiastical left. He does not believe in the erroneous view that the problems can be solved by “structural reforms”. He knows that the reason for the problems is usually much deeper and is to be found far before the "structures". That it is necessary to get to the root of the problem in order to start where sin and faith are at stake - not about “structural reforms” but about personal conversion. This is why Cardinal Sarah is also convinced “that the“ creeping apostasy of Europe cannot remain without consequences.”

When the Cardinal from Guinea warns Europe warns of losing its identity, published a "clarification" to the papal motu proprio Magnum Principle,  he showed that wherever conscience urges him, he is also ready to oppose the Pope directly. With this motu proprio, Francis has “decentralized” the translation of the liturgical texts into the vernacular, which is at the core of a fractionation of the heart of the Church, and could open the door to the sacred liturgy. The cardinal "clarified" by defending tradition. Since the papal authority overrides that of the cardinal, he cannot really compete with Santa Marta, but each of these positions is of great importance.

Cardinal prefect on call

There are also aspects where some would have wished more from the cardinal, for example in the Corona crisis, which is far less a health crisis than a political and social crisis. After all, the cardinal was one of the supporters of the Veritas liberabit vos appeal (The truth will set you free) if he also withdrew his signature.

In November 2019 his five-year mandate as cardinal prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship has not been extended until today by Francis. The head of the Church thus reserves the canonically comfortable position of being able to dismiss the African cardinal at any time. He completed his 75th year of life last June and thus reached the canonical retirement age that also applies to senior Curia employees. Since then, his position has been doubly dependent on the benevolence of the ruling Pope.

Half a year has passed since then and one thing is certain: Francis remains on the gentle path towards Cardinal Sarah. Cardinals Raymond Burke and Gerhard Müller had to experience that Francis can do otherwise.

Nevertheless, the rumors about an early removal of the "foreign body" Cardinal Sarah from the Bergoglian Curia are growing again. As always, such Roman rumors should be treated with the necessary caution. Yet for the first time a possible successor to Sarah, a concrete name from the ultra progressive Internet platform Religion Digital has been broached. Although this page should be classified under the heading of anti-church media, those responsible have already been received by Pope Francis.

A Jesuit as a possible successor

Yesterday, Religion Digital reported that Pope Francis "decided" that the Spanish Church should have greater weight in the Roman Curia:

"It was therefore decided that the current Auxiliary Bishop of Madrid, Juan Antonio Martínez Camino, would be appointed as the new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments - in place of the polemical Cardinal Sarah."

Msgr. Juan Antonio Martínez Camino SJ

This would not only give the Church of Spain more weight. It would be even more of the Jesuit order , which could expand its strong position with Francis's inner circle. The Jesuit Martínez Camino was already provided for as bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo, his appointment already ready to be signed, as Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, Emeritus Francis Archbishop of Madrid, his Auxiliary Bishop Pope Francis as prefect of the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship had recommended. The recommendation is also supported by the prior of the Trappist monastery of San Isidro de Dueñas, with whom Msgr. Martínez SJ is very connected and to which he had already withdrawn for several months in preparation for new regulations. The incumbent Archbishop of Madrid, Carlos Cardinal Osoro Sierra, appointed by Francis in 2014, also gave his approval.

One already perfectly familiar with the Spanish situation  as the familiar voice of the blog Secretum meum mihi sees Mons. Martínez SJ, that should he be Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, he will be the "gravedigger" of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

Martínez obtained his doctorate in 1990 at the German Jesuit University Sankt Georgen with an "ecumenical" thesis on Pannenberg and Jüngel. In 1974 he entered the Jesuit order, was ordained a priest in 1980 and made solemn religious vows in 1992. In 2003 he became the Secretary General  of the Spanish Bishops' Conference and 2007 at the request of Cardinal Rouco Varela, appointed by Benedict XVI. as auxiliary bishop of Madrid.

Religion Digital is a serious vote because it is widely networked with certain circles as far as Santa Marta. What is certain is that influential people support the Martínez option. It remains to be seen whether this option is more than just their wish.

Soon after the election of Pope Francis, much of the Church's attention was drawn to the Guinean purple bearer. Since then, he has been considered a preferred candidate for quite a few. In the next conclave, towards which Pope Francis is already working intensively progressively, Cardinal Robert Sarah could still belong to the circle of the “Papabili”.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL

Trans: Tancred

AMDG