Cardinal Robert Sarah has renewed his defense of the Traditional Latin Mass while urging the Church to remain firmly rooted in her unchanging mission, doctrine, and sacred worship.
According to LifeSiteNews, the former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments expressed uncertainty that the Church possesses the authority to permanently suppress a liturgy celebrated by generations of Catholics for centuries.
“I don’t know what authority we have to prevent a liturgy that has been celebrated for centuries,” Cardinal Sarah said.
According to LifeSiteNews, Cardinal Sarah also referenced Pope Benedict XVI’s teaching regarding the continuity of the Church’s liturgical tradition.
“Pope Benedict said that what was sacred in the past remains sacred today,” Sarah said. “And besides, this Tridentine liturgy is 1,600 years old. We cannot say that what has been done for 1,600 years is no longer valid now.”
The cardinal also pointed to a message Pope Leo XIV reportedly sent to the bishops of France earlier this year, interpreting it as an encouragement for bishops to be more receptive toward Catholics attached to the Traditional Latin Mass.
“I think that what was written to the French bishops must apply to all bishops: be more open, so as not to create division for no reason,” Sarah said, according to LifeSiteNews.
Noting that the Catholic Church has long embraced multiple legitimate liturgical traditions, he questioned why the Traditional Latin Mass should be treated differently.
“I think we should encourage all the bishops to be more fatherly, more open… I don’t see why we must be so radical as to suppress it, that is, to prevent it,” he said.
According to LifeSiteNews, Cardinal Sarah also suggested that Pope Francis’ 2021 apostolic letter Traditionis Custodes could eventually fade from practical use rather than requiring formal repeal.
“The Church is a continuity,” he said. “What cancels is not a valid text, because the Church is a continuity.”
Beyond the discussion of the liturgy, Cardinal Sarah addressed broader questions surrounding the Synod on Synodality and the language increasingly used to describe the Church.
“I have always believed that the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church is Mother, the Church is Teacher, the Church is a Bride,” he said, adding that he has “never understood” the shift toward describing the Church primarily as a “Synodal Church.”
He cautioned that revealed doctrine cannot be determined through voting or popular consensus.
“A doctrine is not something one votes on, it cannot be voted on,” Sarah said. “A moral teaching cannot be voted on; it is a teaching received from God.”
According to LifeSiteNews, the cardinal also urged careful review of proposals connected to Study Group No. 9 before any worldwide implementation, emphasizing that the Church’s moral teaching remains constant.
“No one can change moral doctrine or other doctrine,” he said. “No, no one. Because it is not ours. The teaching we give is not our own teaching. It is God’s. There can be no ‘paradigm shift.'”
Cardinal Sarah likewise emphasized that the Church’s primary mission is not merely dialogue with the world but bringing God’s truth to it.
“It seems to me that the Church must look at the world above all through the lens of her mission,” he said. “Not only listening, not only dialogue, but giving the light of God—not our own light, but God’s light—to a world that is in darkness.”
He also stressed the importance of reverent worship, saying authentic liturgy helps foster peace by drawing people into a deeper relationship with God.
“I am convinced that the liturgy is a relationship of trust, of submission to God,” he said. “He will bring peace to mankind, in the Church, in the world—but a sacred liturgy, not a game, not entertainment.”
Despite expressing concern over what he described as serious spiritual challenges facing the Church, Cardinal Sarah concluded with a message of hope grounded in Christ’s promise to remain with His Church.
“The Church belongs to Christ,” he said. “Christ will not abandon his Church. He will remain with her until the end of the world. And so the Church will remain the light.”
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