Cardinal Robert Sarah says the aversion to Latin and Gregorian chant among some in the Church will die out with the generation that created it.
In a new interview with Italian journalist Nico Spuntoni, published today in Il Giornale, the former prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments argues that opposition to traditional liturgy is confined to “self-referential cultural circles” rooted more in psychology than substance. Once the ’68 generation passes from influence, he predicts, so too will the “baseless, one-sided positions” that have diminished the cultural stature of Latin Catholicism — a shift he sees coming for the Traditional Latin Mass and for tradition more broadly.
The Cardinal also delivers a sharp verdict on Pope Francis’ 2021 restrictions on the old rite. He calls Traditionis Custodesneither wise nor respectful toward Benedict XVI, who he says bore the decision with the meekness of a lamb even as it was imposed while he was still living. Access to ritual forms “recognized and in use for centuries,” Cardinal Sarah insists, can never be legitimately restricted by decree. And he condemns hostility toward traditional-minded Catholics outright, calling it “shortsighted,” “purely ideological,” and ultimately “harmful, and destructive to the Church.”
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