Posted on 09/16/2025 7:50:49 AM PDT by ebb tide
Cardinal Robert Sarah has said that Pope Francis’ document allowing for same-sex “blessings” “threatens the unity of the Church” and should be “forgotten.”
In a recent interview with the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire, the African cardinal was asked about Francis’ highly controversial declaration Fiducia supplicans, which allowed the “blessing” of same-sex couples in certain situations.
“I hope that the content of Fiducia supplicans can be clarified and perhaps reformulated,” Sarah said. “The declaration is theologically weak and therefore unjustified.”
“It threatens the unity of the Church,” he continued. “It is a document to be forgotten.”
Sarah was also asked about the restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM).
“Over the centuries, the diversity of rites celebrating the one Eucharistic sacrifice has never created a problem for the authority, because the unity of the faith was clear,” he stated. “Indeed, I believe that the variety of rites in the Catholic world is a great treasure.”
He expressed doubt that an ancient rite like TLM could be “banned.”
“It would be like forbidding the study of St. Augustine to those who want to reflect correctly on grace or the Trinity,” the cardinal noted.
Sarah spoke positively of the first months of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate. He said the Roman Pontiff “is bringing back the indispensable centrality of Christ, the evangelical awareness that ‘without Him we can do nothing’: neither build peace, nor build the Church, nor save our souls.”
“Furthermore, it seems to me that he has an intelligent attention to the world, in a spirit of listening and dialogue, always with a prudent consideration of Tradition.”
”Tradition is like an engine of history: both of history in general and of the Church,” he added. “Without a living Tradition that allows for the transmission of Divine Revelation, the Church itself could not exist. All this is in perfect continuity with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.”
After Fiducia supplicans was published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Pope Francis in December 2023, many faithful priests, bishops, and prominent laymen openly opposed it. Most of the African episcopate refused to implement the same-sex “blessings” described in the document; however, the text was welcomed by the most heterodox and heretical parts of the Church, like most of the German Bishops’ Conference.
Ping
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