Cardinal Robert Sarah is warning that modern paganism has entered parts of the Catholic Church, leading to confusion about truth, weakened moral teaching, and liturgies that resemble “entertainment” more than worship.
In a recent interview with the French magazine La Nef, the former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments reflected on what he believes are some of the deepest spiritual dangers facing the Church today.
According to LifeSiteNews, Cardinal Sarah said that modern paganism appears whenever man places himself at the center instead of God. “When faith is reduced to sociological language, the liturgy to entertainment, morality to constant negotiation, and the Church to an institution that must adapt to the desires of the times, then something of paganism returns,” he warned.
The Guinean cardinal explained that this spiritual crisis does not resemble ancient pagan religions, but rather a modern mindset rooted in self-centeredness and worldly thinking. He pointed to several signs of this trend, including “the blurring of the sense of sin,” “the trivialization of the liturgy,” and “the forgetting of the Church’s supernatural purpose.”
“When God is no longer first, even within the Church, everything else is corrupted,” Sarah stated, according to LifeSiteNews.
The cardinal also cautioned against what he described as an increasing fear within the Church of offending modern culture. He said many Catholics have become too influenced by the spirit of the age and increasingly choose “ambiguity” instead of clarity.
“Consequently, ambiguity is preferred over clarity, accompaniment without conversion over healing mercy, communication over contemplation, and horizontality over adoration,” Sarah said.
He stressed that the mission of the Church is not to imitate the world, but to lead souls toward God. “The world does not expect the Church to repeat its words; it expects her to open Heaven to it,” he added.
Cardinal Sarah described conformity to worldly values as “the great heresy of our time.”
While criticizing modern secular pressures, Sarah also reflected on moments in Church history when political powers improperly influenced the Church. He referenced the Gregorian Reform around the year 1000, when the Church fought against simony and the control of bishops by kings and emperors.
Today, he argued, the pressure is more cultural than political. According to LifeSiteNews, Sarah warned that modern society seeks “to confine the Church within a culture whose dogmas it would define itself.”
He urged Catholics to resist being shaped by media narratives and changing social trends. “The Church must break free from media-driven dogmas to preach in complete freedom the Word of God transmitted by Christ,” he said.
Despite his concerns, Cardinal Sarah also expressed hope for the future of the Church. He said he sees signs of renewal among young Catholics, faithful families, priests, and religious communities devoted to prayer and reverent liturgy.
“I see it in young people who are not seeking a watered-down religion, but a whole faith,” Sarah said.
The cardinal pointed especially to renewed interest in Eucharistic adoration, silence, and adult conversions to the Catholic faith throughout Europe.
“In Europe, we are seeing an increase in adult baptisms and returns to the faith,” he noted. “I see this less as a ‘return to Christianity’ than as a reawakening of the thirst for God.”
Sarah concluded by expressing confidence that authentic reform in the Church begins not through worldly strategies, but through holiness inspired by the Holy Spirit in the lives of the faithful.
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