Practical atheism does not deny God or reject God outright the cardinal said, but it removes God from the centre of life.

Speaking at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC, the Cardinal warned that this form of atheism is gaining traction among clergy and laypeople alike.

This mindset, he noted, has permeated Europe where Catholicism once thrived but is now waning. More worryingly, he said it has begun to take root within the Church itself.

He reflected on the legacy of Pope St John Paul II, who played a crucial role in the downfall of Soviet Communism which sought to impose atheism. However, Cardinal Sarah emphasised that while ideological atheism has diminished, the threat now comes from within, manifesting as a ‘practical atheism' that renders God irrelevant in daily life.

"How often do we hear from theologians, priests, religious and even some bishops — or bishops conferences — that we need to adjust our moral theology for considerations that are only human" he said.

Yet "a Church based on human resolutions" the cardinal warned "becomes only a human church".

Confusion and dilution of core beliefs

"To be Catholic is more than a culture identification, it is a profession of faith. It has a particular content of faith. To move outside that content, both in belief and practice, is to move outside of faith" the cardinal said.

He warned against considering all voices within the Church equally legitimate, which he believes could lead to confusion and a dilution of core beliefs. "As Cardinal Ratzinger said: ‘A faith we can decide for ourselves is no faith at all'."

None of the proponents of this paradigm shift within the Church "reject God outright, but they treat Revelation as secondary, or at least on equal footing with experience and modern science" the cardinal said.

"This is how practical atheism works. It does not deny God but functions as if God is not central."

Addressing the Church's future, Cardinal Sarah called on US bishops to defend the faith and uphold the centrality of Jesus Christ.

He praised the vitality of the American Church, contrasting it with Europe.

"The United States is not like Europe. The faith is still young and maturing. This young vitality is a gift to the Church" he said.

"Your seminaries have largely been reformed, lay apostolates are breathing new life into the faith and there are pockets of life in parishes" he observed.

Sources

National Catholic Register

In his address at the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon on April 9, Cardinal Sarah (pictured) emphasised the pivotal role of the African Church in preserving the Word of God.

He contrasted it with what he sees as Western Christians being swayed by misleading notions of enlightenment and modernity.

Cardinal Sarah said "At the next session of the Synod, it is vital that the African Bishops speak in the name of the unity of faith. And not in the name of particular cultures."

Fragmented truth

Cardinal Sarah applauded the commitment of African Church representatives to traditional teachings.

This was despite facing disregard and ridicule from those he accused of catering to Western interests.

"Your voice has been ignored and mocked by those whose only aim is to please Western lobbies" he said.

He urged African Catholics to continue opposing what he termed a "fragmented truth" and a "dictatorship of relativism" during the synod.

Cardinal Sarah lauded Catholic Bishops in Cameroon for their collective stance against Fiducia Supplicans.

The controversial declaration permitted the blessing of same-sex couples. He said this was the latest example of a push for "the culture of relativism" rather than the "universality of faith".

Fiducia Supplicans buried

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, a member of the Council of Cardinals, voiced agreement with Cardinal Sarah.

"I followed with much attention Cardinal Sarah's address and I think what he said is true.

"Fiducia Supplicans wasn't primarily about cultural aspects; rather, it was best approached through the perspectives of theology, morality, the Bible and the Magisterium" Cardinal Ambongo said.

"The Church in Africa is united in communion, there is no division. I think that all over the world, people agree and are in one accord with the Church in Africa" Ambongo said, adding "This is the reason why we shall no longer talk about Fiducia Supplicans; it has been buried".

Sources

Katholische

ACI Africa

CathNews New Zealand

Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea also repeated his criticism of Fiducia Supplicans, the recent Vatican document authorising blessings of couples involved in same-sex unions, insisting that it's not just traditional African culture but Catholic teaching itself which makes the document unacceptable.

Speaking to the episcopal conference of Cameroon, Cardinal Sarah, the Vatican's former top official for liturgy, criticised Western bishops for their reluctance to oppose secular worldly values, accusing them of a failure of nerve.

Read More

Speaking at the Conciliar Seminary in Mexico City under the title "Joyful Servants of the Gospel," the prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stressed that no individual can invent a female priesthood.

"No council, no synod, no ecclesiastical authority has the power to invent a female priesthood ... without seriously damaging the perennial physiognomy of the priest, his sacramental identity, within the renewed ecclesiological vision of the Church, mystery, communion and mission," emphasised Sarah.

In his address, Cardinal Sarah highlighted the priesthood as a divine gift that cannot be reduced to cultural or environmental factors.

Emphasising the universality of the priesthood, Cardinal Sarah expressed that the sacrament of Holy Orders, instituted by Christ, is a singular entity that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries.

"For Jesus, there is no African, German, Amazonia or European priesthood. The priesthood is unique, it is identical for the universal Church."

Priesthood a great gift

During his discourse, Sarah also delved into the profound nature of the priesthood and stressed that "the priesthood is a great, great mystery, so great a gift that it would be a sin to waste it."

He underscored the importance of receiving, understanding and living out this divine vocation, highlighting the priest's role as an alter Christus—an embodiment of Christ himself—and a mediator between God and humanity.

Cardinal Sarah emphasised the essential role of prayer in the life of a priest. He stressed that prayer is the primary duty of a priest, who starts the day with the Office of Readings and ends it with the Evening Prayer.

"A priest who does not pray is about to die. A Church that does not pray is a dead Church," he warned.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

CathNews New Zealand

Roche replaces controversial conservative Cardinal, Robert Sarah, whose resignation Pope Francis accepted on 20 February.

The Vatican liturgy office is charged with overseeing the Catholic Church's liturgical rites, and senior New Zealand people involved in liturgy told CathNews they quietly optimistic about him pressing ahead with post-conciliar liturgical reform.

They say Roche seems to have worked well with Francis and cite two examples of the relationship, the reform to the "mandatum" to include the washing of women and even non-Catholics feet on Holy Thursday, and the 2017 Magnum Principium document giving bishops' conferences more say over the liturgical translations they use.

While hopeful, they remain cautious and are keen to see if the appointment will lead to a more intelligible English Missal.

"It will be interesting to see what Roche will do in his own right", a senior priest told CathNews.

"It's hard to see that despite Magnum Principium, an improved version of the Missal was going to go anywhere because Sarah was in charge", the priest told CathNews.

Appointed as Secretary in the Liturgy Office (No 2), by former Pope, Benedict XVI, Roche (71) came from Leeds, where he was also the chairman of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL).

In his role as Liturgy Secretary, he ruled out using the 1998 ICEL translation, a document he as chairman of ICEL had close involvement with.

A former head of the Diocese of Leeds, England, Roche is known in Rome as something of a quiet voice and more of a team player than his predecessor.

Unlike Sarah, who was often seen as an opponent of Francis' vision for the global church, Roche is not known to maintain a Twitter account, he does not often give interviews and prefers to stay out of the limelight except when making press statements.

The new prefect has been leading the liturgy office on an interim basis since Francis accepted Sarah's resignation.

Beyond Roche, Francis also appointed new No. 2 and No. 3 officials for the congregation.

Italian Bishop Vittorio Viola will serve as secretary and Msgr. Aurelio Marcias, formerly a department head at the office, will now serve as its under-secretary.

After Sarah resigned, Francis broke with tradition and asked an outside consultant to meet with liturgy office staff, review the office's procedures and consider what might be needed in a new prefect.

In 2017, the New Zealand Catholic Bishops called for a prompt review of the 2011 Latinisted Missal and to review the 1998 draft Roman Missal translation.

Five years later the Bishops and New Zealand people still wait.

Bishop Patrick Dunn, then president of the New Zealand Bishop's Conference said at the time, despite Magnum Principium, the New Zealand bishops were also not inclined to go it alone because they acknowledge the importance of working collegially with ICEL.

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: National Catholic Register

Sarah was prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and in line with protocol, submitted his resignation towards the end of 2020 when he turned 75.

An outspoken head of liturgy, it was Francis who appointed to the position in November 2014.

No replacement has been announced yet.

"I am in the hands of God. The only rock is Christ. We will meet very soon in Rome and elsewhere," Sarah tweeted.

Francis and Sarah did not always see eye-to-eye and this was most evident in matters of Liturgy.

During his six-year service as the Congregation's prefect, made numerous public interventions on the liturgy.

Many of his moves were at odds with the Pope's wish to implement the Second Vatican Council's liturgical reforms.

In 2014 during the first Synod on the Family, Sarah blamed the media for pushing "the Church [to change] her doctrine" on homosexual unions.

At the 2015 family synod he spoke of threats to the institution of marriage and the family, saying: "what Nazi fascism and communism were in the 20th century, Western homosexual and abortion ideologies and Islamic fanaticism are today."

Significantly, in 2016, he encouraged priests to celebrate Mass facing east.

The Pope publicly rebuked him for this.

That year Francis also rebuked him for alleging the relationship between the Holy See and bishops on liturgical translations is like that of a parent toward a child's homework or an academic supervisor to a student.

Then there were the 'go-slows' in his department. It took Sarah's office over a year to draw up a 370-word decree allowing women to be included in the Holy Thursday foot-washing ritual. The decree was something Francis had specifically requested.

Rather than remove him from office, Francis appointed a series of board members to the liturgy department who did not share Sarah's vision.

In May 2020 Sarah said he was wrongly included as a signatory on a controversial open letter about the pandemic.

The letter said forces could exploit the pandemic in order to usher in a one-world government.

Also last year, Sarah was embroiled in an authorship controversy.

He had presented himself and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as co-authors of a book defending mandatory clerical celibacy. However, although Benedict had written a chapter for the book, he had asked to be removed as a joint author.

The book was published at a sensitive time: just before the Pope was to release his response to the 2019 Amazon synod. During the synod, the bishops had called for the ordination of married men.

Source

• CBCP News
• The Tablet
• Image: Catholic World Report

The head of the Vatican's liturgy office, Cardinal Robert Sarah, said in a letter to bishops conferences that virtual liturgies, while useful, were no replacement for the real thing. He said physical presence by the faithful in churches was "vital, indispensable, irreplaceable."

While some Catholic priests claimed coronavirus lockdowns that shuttered churches infringed on religious liberties, Pope Francis has adhered to Italy's strict lockdown. Read more

Bishops must submit their resignation to the pope when they turn 75. Sarah celebrated his 75th birthday on 15 June.

Two days later on June 17 in a post on his official Twitter account, Cardinal Robert Sarah wrote: "Thank you for the messages that have reached me from around the world on the occasion of my birthday. Let us continue the path with Christ. For my part, I am happy to continue my work within the Congregation for Divine Worship. Always pray for the pope."

Pope Francis reportedly asked Sarah to remain as prefect of the liturgy department "until further provision is made."

Francis was responsible for appointing Sarah as prefect of the liturgy department in November 2014, who is the most senior African prelate at the Vatican. He had previously served as the president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum and as secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Sarah has written a trilogy of books: "God or Nothing" (2015), "The Power of Silence" (2016), and "The Day Is Now Far Spent" (2019).

While he was at the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Sarah developed a reputation for outspoken commentary on the Church and the world.

Four years ago in 2016, he encouraged priests to celebrate Mass facing east. This prompted a Vatican spokesman to say that his words had been "misinterpreted."

In January this year he was again at the center of a controversy, this time over the presentation of a book, "From the Depths of Our Hearts,". He co-authored the work with the Pope emeritus, Benedict XVI.

He also commented in a magazine interview in April this year that the sick and dying cannot be denied the sacramental assistance of a priest during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Priests must do everything they can to remain close to the faithful. They must do everything in their power to assist the dying, without complicating the task of the caretakers and the civil authorities."

"But no one has the right to deprive a sick or dying person of the spiritual assistance of a priest. It is an absolute and inalienable right."

Last month, Sarah said he was wrongly included as a signatory on a controversial open letter arguing that forces could exploit the pandemic in order to usher in a one-world government.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: ACI Africa

Sarah (pictured), is head of the Vatican's liturgy office and is supposedly the highest-ranking signatory.

However, he claims he never signed the petition.

Sarah's claim is contradicted by the archbishop who spearheaded the petition, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.

Vigano says Sarah was fully on board and he has the recorded phone conversations to prove it.

The virus petition was signed mostly by Italian clergy, academics and journalists.

It is the latest initiative conservatives have used to frame COVID-19 lockdowns as an assault on religious liberty, a threat to the global economy and a conspiracy to separate families.

The petition calls the pandemic a "pretext" by unnamed actors to manipulate and control people through panic and deprive them of their fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of worship.

The petition also says contact-tracing devices, required vaccinations and "criminalised" visits between grandparents and grandchildren are "a disturbing prelude to the realization of a world government beyond all control."

Vigano is the former Holy See diplomat who achieved notoriety with his 2018 j'accuse of a high-level Vatican cover-up of sex abuse.

He has since reacted negatively to everything from the Vatican's China policy to Pope Francis's outreach to Muslims and the Amazon synod.

Other prominent signatories include three other conservative cardinals who have been critical of Francis' papacy.

One is the ousted prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller and another is the retired archbishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen.

The petition was issued last Thursday, the same day the Italian government and the bishops conference reached an agreement to resume Masses from 18 May so long as strict protocols are followed.

Source

• US News
• Image: CruxNow

One of their concerns is what to do about distributing communion, which is considered a "high risk of contagion" moment.

Cardinal Robert Sarah, (pictured) who is the head of the Vatican's liturgical office, has warned them that the answer cannot be the "desecration of the Eucharist."

"No one can be denied confession and communion," so even if the faithful cannot attend Mass, if a priest is asked to give either they must oblige, he told them.

Although no date yet has been announced for the resumption of Mass, one of the solutions being considered is a "take-out" communion.

This proposal would see hosts placed in plastic bags to be consecrated by the priests and left on shelves for people to take.

"No, no, no," Sarah said to a reporter, when the idea was put to him.

"It's absolutely not possible, God deserves respect, you can't put him in a bag.

"I don't know who thought this absurdity, but if it is true that the deprivation of the Eucharist is certainly a suffering, one cannot negotiate how to receive communion.

"We receive communion in a dignified way, worthy of God who comes to us.

"The Eucharist must be treated with faith, we cannot treat it as a trivial object, we are not in the supermarket," Sarah said.

"It's totally insane."

When the reporter told Sarah (who's sometimes been seen as out of sync with Pope Francis) that this method is already being used in some churches in Germany, Sarah replied:

"Unfortunately, many things are done in Germany that are not Catholic, but this doesn't mean that we must imitate them."

He then said he'd recently heard a bishop say that in the future, there would be no more Eucharistic assemblies - the Mass with the Eucharist - but the Liturgy of the Word.

"But this is Protestantism," he said, without naming the bishop.

Sarah also said the Eucharist is not a "right or a duty" but a gift freely given by God that must be welcomed with "veneration and love."

Catholics believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist after the hosts are consecrated by the priest.

Sarah explained that in the Eucharistic form, God is a person, and "no one would welcome a person they love in a bag or in an unworthy way.

"The response to the privation of the Eucharist cannot be desecration.

"This really is a matter of faith, if we believe it we cannot treat it unworthily."

Regarding Masses being streamed or on TV during the pandemic, Sarah said Catholics cannot "get used to this" because "God is incarnated, he is flesh and blood, he is not a virtual reality."

It's misleading for priests, who should be looking at God during the Mass and not the camera, as if the liturgy was a "show," he added.

Source

• Crux Now
• Image: La Croix International

Francis approved the two new liturgical texts for use during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Cardinal Robert Sarah, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, wrote the decree accompanying the texts for the Mass.

Sarah said the Mass "In Time of Pandemic" prayers can be used for any Mass during the pandemic except the following:

• Ash Wednesday
• Lent
• Holy Week
• the Easter octave
• the Easter season
• All Souls' Day
• solemnities
• Sundays in Advent.

"In these days, during which the whole world has been gravely stricken by the Covid-19 virus, many requests have come to this dicastery to be able to celebrate a specific Mass to implore God to bring an end to this pandemic," Sarah wrote.

The Congregation has sent the texts to the world's bishops.

They have also been published on the Congregation's website.

The texts have been issued in Latin as well as several other languages, including English, Chinese, Spanish, French and German.

The decrees are effective immediately.

Source

• America
• Image: LifeSite

The Holy See Press Office says the long-time secretary of emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has had his duties as prefect of the papal household "reallocated to others".

It is downplaying 63-year-old Georg Gänswein's absence from several papal audiences over the past few weeks.

It describes the change as "an ordinary redistribution of the various commitments and duties of the prefect of the papal household who, as you know, is also the personal secretary of the pope emeritus,".

Gänswein, who is from Germany, has been the emeritus pope's personal secretary since before Benedict became pope.

Several rumours are circulating about the reasons for his apparent sidelining from his papal household duties.

Some say Francis has given him leave of absence to devote full-time attention to Benedict. Some favouring this view are also speculating that the former pope's health is worsening.

Others are speculating that that Francis relieved Gänswein of his official Vatican duties because of his role in the publication of the recent book by Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the Vatican's liturgy office.

Benedict contributed to an essay insisting on the necessity of priestly celibacy, that was written primarily by Cardinal Sarah.

The book's January 2020 release date coincided with considerations Pope Francis is weighing concerning whether to allow married priests in the Amazon.

Benedict's involvement is being seen as an attempt to influence Francis on this issue.

Many observers say Benedict's participation could not have happened without Gänswein's involvement.

Following the controversy about his involvement with the book, Gänswein phoned several German news agencies JBenedict had requested that his name be removed as co-author of the book, its introduction and its conclusion.

Although the German newspaper Die Tagespost has reported that Pope Francis placed Gänswein on an "indefinite leave" following the scandal over the book, the Vatican is denying this.

"No leave, we have no information in that sense," the Vatican press office says.

Gänswein hasn't been seen at Francis's general audiences since15 January, the day the Sarah-Benedict book was officially released.

Source

• La Croix
• National Catholic Register

And some observers wonder if this is the start of a trend that could continue in 2020, when at least two more such posts are expected to come free.

• French Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who has led the Congregation of Bishops since 2010, will conclude a second five-year term in the role on June 30.
• Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, who heads the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, passed the conclusion date of his first term this Nov. 23.

"Francis is really beginning to put together a team of his own inside the Curia," said Marco Politi, a respected Italian journalist who is author of nearly a dozen books on the Vatican.

"Many of Francis' supporters have criticized him behind the scenes for not having put in place a spoils system at the Vatican and for not putting people dedicated to his reform agenda in key posts," said Politi, a former long-time Vatican correspondent for the daily newspaper La Repubblica.

"Future appointments to the posts now occupied by Cardinals Sarah and Ouellet will permit Francis to create a more uniform leadership at the Vatican's highest levels," he said.

Although Francis' plans for Ouellet and Sarah are unknown, Ouellet turned 75, the traditional retirement age for bishops and cardinals, last June. Sarah will turn 75 in June 2020.

A third Vatican official who appears near retirement is Italian Cardinal Beniamino Stella, the prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy, who is 78 and passed the limit on his five-year term on Sept. 21, 2018.

The Vatican does not publicize Francis' choices on whether or not to renew his officials' terms of office.

In response to a question regarding whether Francis has renewed Stella or Sarah's mandates, the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, noted that heads of Vatican offices frequently serve beyond the dates of expiration of their terms, at the pope's discretion.

Massimo Faggioli, a theologian and historian who has written extensively on Francis' papacy, said he did not know whether the pontiff might be wanting to free up space at the top of Vatican offices in order to call in allies.

"This is an open question for me," said Faggioli, a professor at Villanova University. Earlier in his papacy, said the theologian, Francis appeared to think that "he could do without the Curia."

"I don't know if he has changed his mind compared to the first years," said Faggioli. "It is very possible."

Neither Ouellet nor Sarah have openly criticized Francis. Both have, however, made clear that they disagree with the pontiff in certain areas.

Ouellet, for example, publicly opposed the proposal of October's Synod of Bishops for the Amazon to allow for the priestly ordination of married men on a limited basis in order to meet sacramental needs in the nine-nation region.

And the cardinal held a book launch at the Vatican days before the start of the synod for a volume enunciating his views, titled Friends of the Bridegroom: For a Renewed Vision of Priestly Celibacy.

For his part, Sarah famously waited a year to implement a 2014 request from Francis that he issue a decree making clear that women are allowed to participate in Holy Thursday foot-washing rites. Continue reading

Where Francis said politicians who build walls to keep migrants out would become prisoners of those barriers, Sarah said priests and bishops who defend migration are "bewitched" by political and social issues.

In explanation, Sarah, who is the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said migrants arriving in Europe were parked somewhere without work or dignity.

"Is that what the Church wants?"

In his view the Church should not support "this new form of slavery" because the West, with its low birth rate, risked disappearing.

"If Europe disappears and with it the priceless values of the Old Continent, Islam will invade the world and we will completely change culture, anthropology and moral vision.

"It is better to help people flourish in their culture than to encourage them to come to a Europe in full decadence," he said.

"It is a false exegesis [interpretation] to use the word of God to promote migration. God never wanted these heartbreaks."

Sarah, who is considered one of the most conservative voices in the Vatican, said priests, bishops and even cardinals are afraid to proclaim divine teaching.

"They are afraid of being frowned upon, of being seen as reactionaries. So they say fuzzy, vague and imprecise things to escape criticism, and they marry the stupid evolution of the world," he said.

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: LifeSiteNews

Certain men of God have turned into "agents of the Evil one.

"We have betrayed like Judas." Sarah calls relativism "the mask of Judas, dressed as an intellectual."

"We tolerate everything" and "Catholic doctrine is put in question," Sarah he says. Read more

Sarah, a 72-year-old Guinean is the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which traditionally has had authority over liturgical translations.

In a letter dated October 15, Pope Francis very directly corrected a commentary by Sarah on the implementation of the motu proprio Magnum Principium (MP)

In his commentary, Sarah argued that the new process for the translation of liturgical texts still follows the rules put into place with the 2001 Instruction Liturgiam Authenticam (LA), which said the vernacular versions must faithfully reflect the language and structure of the Latin texts.

In his letter, Pope Francis said MP "abolished" the process for translating used by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments after LA was published in 2001.

He said that in the past, it was the task of the Vatican's liturgical office to judge whether or not a translation is faithful to the original Latin.

Now episcopal conferences themselves have been given the faculty of "judging the goodness and consistency of one and the other term in the translations from the original, in dialogue with the Holy See."

Sarah suggested that the words recognition (recognitio) and confirmation (confirmatio) are "interchangeable with respect to the responsibility of the Holy See".

But the Pope said these two words cannot be said to be "strictly synonymous or interchangeable or that they are interchangeable at the level of responsibility of the Holy See."

The distinction between recognition and confirmation he said, emphasises the different responsibility that the Apostolic See and episcopal conferences have in liturgical translations.

He said recognition by the Vatican "no longer supposes a detailed word-by-word examination" except in obvious cases which can be brought to the bishops for further reflection.

Recognition indicates verification and certainty of conformity into law and the communion of the Church.

It is granted after the text confirmed by the local bishops has been submitted to the Apostolic See.

While he conceded that "the recognitio was not a simply formal act", Pope Francis also insisted on "the spirit of dialogue" between Rome and bishops' conferences that his motu proprio required.

Pope Francis closed his letter noting that Sarah's commentary had been published on several websites, and asked that the cardinal transmit his response to the same outlets, as well as to members and consultors of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

Read the full text of the Pope's Letter

Source

• CNA
• NCR
• La Croix
• The Holy Trinity Church
• ICN
• Image: National Catholic Register

Sarah, who is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, says the Vatican will continue to safeguard any changes and any new liturgical translations to ensure they remain faithful to the original Latin.

He says the change does not replace a 2001 Vatican instruction called Liturgiam Authenticam, issued under St. Pope John Paul II, which calls for a more faithful translation from the original Latin of the Roman Rite.

"There is therefore no noticeable change regarding the imposed standards, and the result which must follow from them for each liturgical book," he says.

Approving new translations "is by no means a formality, that is to say, a sort of approval which would be granted after a rapid review of the work," Sarah says.

He points out the new law still presupposes a "detailed review" on the part of the Vatican. The Vatican decision is binding, and liturgical texts can't be published without this approval.

Having said that, Sarah noted the Vatican would "not … ordinarily intervene" in the work of a bishops' conference before it submits the translation for approval, although it might still be "desirable" for episcopal conferences and the Congregation for Worship to have "preliminary exchanges" and "mutual consultation."

Source

• National Catholic Register
• Crux
• Image: LifeSite

At the conference last Thursday marking the 10th anniversary of Benedict's decree liberalizing use of the Latin Mass, the meeting organizer, the Rev. Vincenzo Nuara, didn't even mention Pope Francis in his opening remarks.

Among those at the conference was Cardinal Robert Sarah.

In his address, entitled "Silence and the Primacy of God in the Sacred Liturgy," he delivered a powerful message of continuity with Benedict's programme of liturgical renewal, including a prominent role for the ancient Roman liturgy.

The front-row participants at the conference honoring retired Pope Benedict and his 2007 decree included Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leading critic of the current pope whom Francis removed as the Vatican's supreme court judge in 2014; and Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, recently axed by Francis as the Vatican's doctrine chief.

Sarah, who was appointed by Francis as head of the Vatican's liturgy office but has been sidelined by his deputy, was also among those in the front row.

The pilgrims' attachment to the Latin mass defies Pope Francis's recent affirmation with "magisterial authority" that the reforms of the 1960s allowing for Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than Latin were "irreversible.".

His views on the Latin Mass are very different from his predecessor's. Where Benedict passed a law allowing greater use of the Latin Mass, Francis has the opposite view.

In fact, rather than follow word-for-word the Latin translations, within the past fortnight or so Francis has given local bishops conferences authority to oversee the Latin Mass translations.

Source

• Religion News Service
• LifeSite News
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Furthermore, the bread "must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition".

Bread made from products other than pure wheat is not allowed.

"Even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid matter for confecting the Sacrifice and the Eucharistic Sacrament," the letter says.

The wine "... must be natural, from the fruit of the grape, pure and incorrupt, not mixed with other substances ... well conserved and has not soured".

Paul Mooney, who is the winemaker from the Mission Estate which produces most of New Zealand's altar wine, says New Zealand wine regulations allow sugar to be added, during the process. As altar wine may not have any added substances, it is kept apart from the main vintage and a different process is used to make it.

Mooney says the process ensures it is palatable by allowing its natural sugars sweeten it.

The letter about the standards of bread and wine is from Cardinal Robert Sarah, who is the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

He wrote the letter at Pope Francis's request.

The letter targets the bishops because their role involves being the "principal dispenser of the mysteries of God, moderator, promoter and guardian of the liturgical life in the Church". This includes providing for all that is required for celebrating the Lord's Supper.

Until relatively recently religious communities catered for the Lord's Supper. Nowadays though, it's possible to go to the supermarket or an online shop to buy the necessities.

To make sure all the bishops are on track with what's required, Sarah's letter offers assistance by recapping the existing regulations and offering some practical suggestions.

These suggestions include the ordinaries:

• guaranteeing the Eucharistic matter through special certification
• reminding priests ... of their responsibility to verify those who provide the bread and wine for the celebration and the worthiness of the material
• providing information to the producers of the bread and wine and reminding them of the absolute respect that is due to the norms.

Source

• Radio NZ
• Vatican Radio
• Image: RCLB Sacraments

"The arrogance, the violence of language, the disrespect and the inhuman contempt for Benedict XVI are diabolical and cover the Church with a mantle of sadness and shame," Sarah said.

"These people demolish the Church and its profound nature," he added.

The opposition to the Emeritus pope emerged when he wrote an afterword to Sarah's The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, .

In it, Benedict wrote that Pope Francis deserves praise for appointing Cardinal Sarah to oversee the Church's liturgy.

Benedict says Sarah speaks "out of the depths of silence with the Lord, out of his interior union with him, and thus really has something to say to each one of us.

"We should be grateful to Pope Francis for appointing such a spiritual teacher as head of the congregation that is responsible for the celebration of the liturgy in the Church," Benedict wrote.

"With Cardinal Sarah, a master of silence and of interior prayer, the liturgy is in good hands."

His critics responded by accusing Benedict of meddling in Church politics and trying to undermine Pope Francis.

One, the Italian liturgist Andrea Grillo, a longtime detractor of Pope Benedict, said "It's as if Ratzinger suddenly renounced his renunciation and wishes to influence the decisions of his successor".

He also accused Benedict of clericalism and hypocrisy.

"A Christian does not fight anyone," Cardinal Sarah commented.

"A Christian has no enemy to defeat. Christ asks Peter to put his sword into his scabbard [Mt 26: 52-53]. This is the command of Christ to Peter, and it concerns every Christian worthy of the name" Sarah said.

Source

• Breitbart
• Catholic Herald
• Image: allaquerciadimamre.it