Cardinal Sarah calls liturgical divisions ‘a true and proper sin’

Niwa Limbu

Aug. 2, 2026

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Cardinal Robert Sarah has described divisions over the 

Traditional Latin Mass as “a true and proper sin” and warned that the Church in the West is living through “a time of great difficulty, even of confusion”. He also called for a return to Pope Benedict XVI’s approach, allowing the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo to coexist

Cardinal Robert Sarah has warned that the Catholic Church in the West is passing through “a time of great difficulty, even of confusion” and called for the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo to continue to exist side by side.

Inan interview with Il Foglio editor-in-chief Matteo Matzuzzi, the former Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments reflected on the state of the Church, the transmission of the faith, liturgical disputes and the early months of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate. He also insisted that the Church’s renewal depends not on adapting to contemporary culture but on prayer, reverent worship and formation.

On the state of the Church, Cardinal Sarah said the greatest challenges were found in the West, where confusion had spread across doctrine, morals and discipline. “Certainly the Church, at least in the West, is in a time of great difficulty, even of confusion, both at the doctrinal level and at the moral and disciplinary level,” Cardinal Sarah said. “The interweaving of culture and faith has never been irrelevant; on the contrary, it often conditions the transmission of the faith in a decisive way.”

The cardinal argued that the cultural assumptions which once sustained Christianity could no longer be relied upon to pass on the faith. His Eminence said: “I think it is beyond doubt that one can no longer entrust the transmission of the faith to culture; rather, it can be handed on to the new generations only through significant experiences and testimonies that place at the centre prayer, silence, the well-celebrated liturgy, a fundamental fidelity to the Gospel and therefore a renewed humanity, a more human way of living relationships.”

The Guinean cardinal linked that vision to Pope Benedict XVI, saying those communities founded on prayer and faithful worship were already beginning to emerge. “These are the communities to which Benedict XVI referred, and of which we are already seeing the dawn arise,” Cardinal Sarah stated.

Despite the difficulties facing the Church, Cardinal Sarah rejected any suggestion that its future was in doubt, telling Il Foglio that the Catholic Church, “over the centuries, has gone through many storms, but we must never forget that she is divine, and therefore will never fail. Yes, the Church will always be a beacon, because she is the Mystical Body of Christ, and Christ is the Light.”

The interview devoted considerable attention to the liturgy. In his comments, the Cardinal described continuing divisions over the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo as damaging to the Church’s unity and argued that the liturgy must never become a battleground. “It is a drama, indeed a true and proper sin, that on an essential theme such as the liturgy there should be a kind of war,” His Eminence told Matteo Matzuzzi. “The liturgy is the source of the Church’s communion and it is unthinkable that on liturgical themes—indeed I would say ritual ones—there should be such opposition and such fierce confrontations.”

More: https://advaticanum.com/article/cardinal-sarah-calls-liturgical-divisions-a-true-and-proper-sin/