In an interview given to the program Le Club Le Figaro Idées , Cardinal Robert Sarah has offered an uncompromising diagnosis of the situation of the Church and the West. The African cardinal warns of a deep crisis of faith in Europe, denounces the reduction of the Church to a social organization, and emphasizes that without God, Western societies are doomed to disappear.
Cardinal Sarah expressed his main concern about the spiritual evolution of the West. In his view, the societies that for centuries transmitted the Gospel have stopped considering Jesus Christ as a vital reference.
“We have the impression that the West is no longer interested in Christ,” he stated, warning of a loss of identity that puts at risk not only Europe but also the young Churches. Even so, he recalled that the Church will not disappear: Christ remains with it until the end of time.
One of the central axes of the interview was his criticism of the Church’s drift toward exclusively social issues:
“It gives the impression that for some time now the Church only talks about ecological change, migrants, peace… But the Church is not an NGO! It is not the role of the Church to speak only about social issues. It must put man in relation to God”
For Sarah, when the Church loses its orientation toward God, it stops fulfilling its essential mission.
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