Cardinal Sarah vs Pope Francis....can someone please explain this to me?

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Pope Francis recently took some authority for translations from the Congregation for Divine Worship and gave it to bishops’ conferences.

Cardinal Sarah, the head of the Congregation, interpreted the Pope’s document as not changing the status quo so the Congregation still kept the authority. He published his interpretation without checking it with the Pope first.

The Pope issued a public correction making clear that there was a change, and certain authority for translations previously held by the Congregation was being taken away from the Congregation and given to the bishops’ conference.

It probably would have been prudent for Cardinal Sarah to check his interpretation with the Pope before publishing it. Seems to be maybe some Vatican gamesmanship.
 
The attacks Cardinal Sarah has been enduring on Twitter from some individuals are truly vile and un-Christian. Some of those individuals are suddenly quite ultramontane…they never were in the days of Benedict.

Interesting, too, that the Pope cannot find a moment to address his cardinals who addressed serious dubia to him…but he had plenty of time to write to Cardinal Sarah about this issue.

In any case, those gloating in any way over this latest example of bad manners from Rome would do well to note that they may be guaranteeing that the next conclave will swing the pendulum back in a direction they may dislike.
 
I fail to see how it’s “bad manners” to issue a public correction when somebody rushed into print misinterpreting your document without doublechecking with you. Most of us who work in corporations know that you don’t make public assumptions about the CEO’s press release, especially assumptions that give more power to your own team. You ask the CEO first to make sure.

I have enjoyed some of Cardinal Sarah’s writings and talks on liturgy, but the average Catholic in the cheap seats couldn’t care less who has ultimate authority for translations, and if this is the type of issue that’s going to get the conclave all fired up, with all of the serious concerns in the world today, then they are in need of maturity and prayers.
 
This pontificate has been marked by nastiness unprecedented in the modern era of the papacy. Let us not forget when the pope went on his rant about coprophagy. The attacks against traditional Catholics are simply bad manners.
 
Vadne said:
This pontificate has been marked by nastiness unprecedented in the modern era of the papacy. Let us not forget when the pope went on his rant about coprophagy. The attacks against traditional Catholics are simply bad manners.
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One issue is that there is no such thing as “traditional Catholics” (or non-traditional Catholics) in the eyes of the Church. Some seem to terribly crave this sort of division and thankfully, the Church does not allow it to take root.
 
America magazine is a horrible far left dissident pseudo Catholic rag.

They promote false tensions where there are none. Cardinal Sarah and Pope Francis love each other, the Cardinal is obedient to the Pope and the Pope serves the Cardinal.

I recommend you never read anything from America magazine again - the Holy Spirit is not who inspires them, but rather the spirit of the evil one.

They are on a level with the fishwrap. When I see articles written by them I immediately dismiss them because I know they will be written with a far left bias, and they always oppose the Church and sew discontent and confusion and hatred whenever possible.

A very horrible website and group of people in need of doing penance.
 
Tell that to the pope. He loves to rail against traditional Catholics.
 
Certain blogs and websites make this into a “rebuke” when it is just a correction and clarification. I guess they do it because “rebuke” gets more clicks and more readers than “correction.”
 
Vadne said:
Tell that to the pope. He loves to rail against traditional Catholics.
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There notion of “traditional Catholics” exists only in the minds of those seeking division.
 
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A start to lack of division would be the pope not criticizing traditional Catholics as often as he does.
 
Vadne said:
A start to lack of division would be the pope not criticizing traditional Catholics as often as he does.
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There’s no such thing as “traditional Catholics.” A good start would be for people to quite referring to something that does not exist.
 
It’s best if we’re all just honest and not use vague language in some misguided attempt at a unity that doesn’t exist.
 
ChunkMonk said:
It’s best if we’re all just honest and not use vague language in some misguided attempt at a unity that doesn’t exist.
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We’re all Catholics of the Latin Rite (I don’t believe any of this concerns the Eastern Catholic churches.) There is no such thing as a “traditional Catholic” (or worse, a “Traditional Catholic”), or a "progressive Catholic. Go ahead and pour you time and emotions into creating division. It will never conclude in what you so clearly crave.
 
I’m not even sure I know what I crave. I crave the salvation of souls. I crave a Godly society led by a strong, vibrant Church.

The divisions are there. When you’ve got two mutually exclusive sides and neither wants to back down the divisions are already there and refusing to name them doesn’t help anything. We’re not ostriches that need to stick our heads in the sand to pretend the danger doesn’t exist.
 
ChunkMonk said:
The divisions are there. When you’ve got two mutually exclusive sides
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The divisions are hardly “mutually exclusive.” While it might be true that “traditional catholics” want their very own church tradition, it’s not true that the Latin Rite desires their expulsion. Quite the opposite.

I think this desire for division is what’s largely going to severely limit the celebration of the EF Mass into the future.
 
Spyridon said:
America magazine is a horrible far left dissident pseudo Catholic rag.

They promote false tensions where there are none. Cardinal Sarah and Pope Francis love each other, the Cardinal is obedient to the Pope and the Pope serves the Cardinal.

I recommend you never read anything from America magazine again - the Holy Spirit is not who inspires them, but rather the spirit of the evil one.

They are on a level with the fishwrap. When I see articles written by them I immediately dismiss them because I know they will be written with a far left bias, and they always oppose the Church and sew discontent and confusion and hatred whenever possible.

A very horrible website and group of people in need of doing penance.
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I agree with most of this… While America does have some good things in their magazine, they do have a political agenda within the Church and are often influenced by the Americanism Hersey.

Obviously, Cardinal Sarah was under the impression that “Magnum Principium” was written without contradicting “Liturgiam Authenticam.” So the Cardinal issued his letter as such.

Personally, I doubt there is a public war going on between Pope Francis and Cardinal Sarah. It’s more likely that there is constant miscommunication in the Vatican and the fact that Pope Francis is not a theologian nor philosopher like other modern Popes surely doesn’t help.

Popes John Paul II & Benedict XVI were both theologians & philosophers and were both former college/seminary professors before becoming Pope. Francis only taught literature and psychology in high school, so he doesn’t have the theological and philosophical background that the CDF is used to working with when reading Papal documents.

God Bless.
 
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phil19034 said:
I doubt there is a public war going on between Pope Francis and Cardinal Sarah. It’s more likely that there is constant miscommunication in the Vatican and the fact that Pope Francis is not a theologian nor philosopher like other modern Popes surely doesn’t help.
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I disagree. I think it is far past time we begin to recognize that there is discord in the Vatican at the highest levels. When will we stop attributing what is happening to “miscommunication” and starting acknowledging that Pope Francis is making calculated radical changes to various aspects of Catholic life while blatantly disregarding and contradicting the magisterium of his predecessors and of high ranking members of the curia?
 
@R_H_Benson - such an attitude (even if true) is not helpful to the mission
of Catholic Answers and the Catholic Answers Forum.

The Holy Father is obviously much more focused on and concerned with people
outside of the Church.

The Holy Father is like the dad who is cool and welcoming to strangers and
friends, but very critical of his own children. Such a dad can drive his
kids nuts.

His approach can be very confusing to faithful Catholics, but I don’t
believe he has ill intent. But, that doesn’t mean that there are not some
around him who do have agendas that make things difficult for clergy like
Cardinal Sarah.

I’m more inclined to beleive that there are some priests and bishops who
disagree with Cardinal Sarah, who are more inclined to omit information to
make him look bad to public & Holy Father than directly between the Pope &
Cardinal Sarah.

I’m sure, there are those who fear Cardinal Sarah becoming the first black
Pope, so these little things are done so the media doesn’t get behind the
idea of an African Pope (which I would totally love)

So if there is a calculated agenda, I think it’s being handled and planned
by others and not so much directly the Pope himself.

God Bless
 
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