‘Carefully outspokenโ is the best description of the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW), Cardinal Robert Sarah.
Throughout his tenure in the department of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing the Churchโs liturgical life, the 72-year-old Guinean has made headlines with his parrhesia โ his frank talk โ about matters ranging from the posture of priests celebrating Mass, to the powers of his office when it comes to curating liturgical translations.
Most recently, he wrote the preface to a book onย The distribution of Communion on the hand: a historical, juridical and pastoral survey, by Fr Federico Bortoli, which constructs in laborious detail the process by which what began as an abuse ยญโ ie, receiving Holy Communion standing and in the hand ยญโ gained increasing measures of tolerance and legal protection.
Cardinal Sarahโs outspokenness has made headlines, not least because his positions are apparently often at odds with Pope Francisโs own. If Sarah is not on board with the โFranciscanโ view of things, why is he still in the job?
For one thing, he is willing to toe the line, even if he dances a little on one side of it.
It helps, too, that Pope Francis is not very sensitive to questions of liturgical form. He has kept Benedict XVIโs Master of Ceremonies, Mgr Guido Marini, and mostly let him work freely when it comes to papal liturgies. Francis occasionally celebrates in Cardinal Sarahโs preferredย ad orientemย posture ยญโย ie, facing the same direction as the congregation โ most notably in the Sistine Chapel, at the high altar Benedict had restored to use in 2008.
Indeed, Pope Francis told Cardinal Sarah he wants him to continue with the liturgical reform Benedict XVI began. Sarah is just doing the job Francis gave him as he sees fit to do it.
Disagreements between the two men have surfaced ยญโ for instance, over Francisโs reforms to the way liturgical translations are prepared and approved. The changes Francis made effectively weakened the CDW and gave more control over the translation of liturgical texts to bishopsโ conferences. Cardinal Sarah wrote a commentary on the new law, in which he asserted that ultimate authority still rested with the CDW. When that commentary was leaked online, Francis wrote to Sarah to clarify the matter and instructed him โ[to] provide [Francisโs] response to the same sitesโ, which had carried Sarahโs commentary, โand also to send it to all episcopal conferences, and the members and consultors of [Sarahโs] dicasteryโ. Francis carefully couched his rebuke, saying the leak had been โerroneouslyโ attributed to Sarah (though there was little doubt that he had written it).
With his preface to Fr Bortoliโs book, Cardinal Sarah has perhaps taken another dangerous step. Some headlines proclaimed that Sarah had called receiving Communion standing and in the hand a โdiabolical attack,โ the purpose of which is to โextinguish faith in the Eucharistโ. This is significant because Benedict XVI had re-introduced the practice of receiving Communion kneeling and on the tongue during papal liturgies โ at least for those receiving from the Holy Father โ while Pope Francis made something of a point of walking that policy back in St Peterโs Basilica.
Now, Cardinal Sarah did not say what some headlines say he said ยญโ not exactly. Sarah was discussing in general terms a diffuse lack of reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, which he attributed to the work of Satan. โWhy do we insist on communicating standing in the hand?โ he asked. โWhy this attitude of lack of submission to the signs of God?โ So, Sarah also did not exactlyย notย say what many headlines say he said, either. But when a meeting with Sarah appeared on Francisโs schedule last week, there was speculation that a rebuke might be coming.
The Pope replaced the CDWโs membership in 2016, stacking it with members not considered well disposed to the โreform of the reformโ that Cardinal Sarah understood it was his task to continue, essentially isolating him within his own dicastery. Put bluntly, Francis may simply think it best to keep Sarah close and reachable by embarrassment short of dismissal.
The increased outspokenness of Cardinal Gerhard Mรผller since his dismissal as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith may suggest the prudence of such a consideration. In any case, Cardinal Sarah seems determined to speak his mind: carefully and respectfully, but frankly. That is bound to make his exile-in-place costly for Francis.
Christopher Altieri is General Manager at Vocaris Media, which specializes in Church communications.
This article first appeared in the March 9 2018 issue of the Catholic Herald. To read the magazine in full, from anywhere in the world, goย here.
Featured image: Cardinal Robert Sarah celebrates Mass at the London Oratory in 2016 (Fr Lawrence Lew, OP)
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