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The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship has urged Catholics to resist both “ideological colonisation” and the removal of God from society.
Cardinal Robert Sarah did this during a speech at National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, on May 17.
The Guinean cardinal spoke of a religious persecution and threat being visited on families through a “demonic gender ideology”.
He called this a “deadly impulse that is being experienced in a world increasingly cut off from God through ideological colonisation”.
Cardinal Sarah spoke of the challenges posed by individualism, the exclusion of the poor and the “despicable” discarding of the unborn and the elderly.
The greatest challenges, however, he said, are the challenges facing the family.
Quoting Pope Francis, Cardinal Sarah said that proposing less than what the Church teaches on marriage proposes less than what Christ offers the human person.
“This is why the Holy Father openly and vigorously defends Church teaching on contraception, abortion, homosexuality, reproductive technologies, the education of children and much more.”
Cardinal Sarah referred in his speech to the physical persecution suffered by Christians in many parts of the world.
But he added “violence against Christians is not just physical, it is also political, ideological and cultural”.
“This form of religious persecution is equally damaging, yet more hidden. It does not destroy physically but spiritually.”
The “violence” of cultural and ideological pressure seeks to separate the Christian from his or her conscience and blend them into society.
The cardinal said the devil wants to destroy the family in order to make it harder for people to hear “the Good News of Jesus Christ: self-giving, fruitful love”.
He said divorce, cohabitation and gay marriage “cause damage to little children through inflicting upon them a deep existential doubt about love”.
Cardinal Sarah called on Catholics to respond to a multitude of threats by being prophetic, faithful, and prayerful.
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