35 Facts About Robert Sarah

Robert Sarah is a Guinean Catholic prelate who served as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 23 November 2014 to 20 February 2021.

Robert Sarah previously served as secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples under Pope John Paul II and president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum under Pope Benedict XVI.

Robert Sarah has called "gender ideology" and the Islamic State the "two radicalizations" that threaten the family, the former through divorce, same-sex marriage, and abortion, and the latter with child marriage, polygamy, and the subjugation of women.

Robert Sarah has been described as largely sympathetic to liturgical practices before the Second Vatican Council but proposed that partisans of different liturgies learn from each other and seek a middle ground.

In 2016, Robert Sarah called for priests to face the same direction as the congregation while celebrating Mass, although facing the congregation had become the prevailing practice since the Second Vatican Council.

Robert Sarah's advice was seen by some as a direct challenge to Pope Francis, a claim that Sarah rejected.

Robert Sarah was born in Ourous, a rural village in then French Guinea, on 15 June 1945, the son of cultivators and converted to Christianity from animism.

Robert Sarah is a member of the Coniagui ethnic group in northern Guinea.

Robert Sarah was ordained to the priesthood on 20 July 1969, and incardinated in the Diocese of Conakry.

Robert Sarah was consecrated bishop on 8 December 1979 by Cardinal Giovanni Benelli.

Robert Sarah served as Conakry's bishop for more than twenty years and during that tenure filled terms as president of the Guinean bishops' conference and of the Episcopal Conference of West Africa.

Robert Sarah served as archbishop under the dictatorship of Ahmed Sekou Toure, who put Robert Sarah on a death list before dying in 1984.

However, despite the persecution of priests and laymen, Robert Sarah worked to maintain the Church as the one institution that was independent of the dictatorship.

Monsignor Robert Sarah is one of the most respected leaders among Guineans, who expressed their strong desire to see him lead the country's political transition on various occasions between 2006 and 2010.

Robert Sarah arguably earned much of this popular trust by speaking truth to power during the stormiest years of President Ahmed Sekou Toure's regime, while other spiritual leaders endeavoured to cater to the regime.

Robert Sarah has the right to vote in papal conclaves until his 80th birthday.

Robert Sarah was a cardinal elector in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis.

Robert Sarah was mentioned in the press as a possible candidate for the papacy, papabile, both in 2013 and 2025.

Robert Sarah used the occasion of his departure from Guinea, when he was awarded the country's highest honour, to condemn the government of Lansana Conte.

Robert Sarah was the second African appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to lead a Vatican dicastery.

On 21 January 2016, Robert Sarah announced that participation in the Holy Thursday foot-washing rite was no longer limited to men, following instructions from Pope Francis who had included women since the beginning of his papacy.

Late in May 2016, Robert Sarah told an interviewer that the Second Vatican Council did not require priests to celebrate Mass versus populum, that is, facing the congregation.

Robert Sarah encouraged Catholics to receive Communion kneeling and said that Pope Francis had asked him to "continue the liturgical work Pope Benedict began".

Robert Sarah still proposed that the newer form should restore certain practices that had been abandoned: that the faithful receive communion only on the tongue and while kneeling, that the prayers at the foot of the altar be included in the Mass, and that from the consecration of the host to the ablutions at the end of Mass the priest should keep thumb and index finger of each hand joined.

On 22 October 2017, the Holy See released a letter that Pope Francis had sent to Robert Sarah, clarifying that the Holy See and its departments would have only limited authority to confirm liturgical translations recognized by a local episcopal conference.

Robert Sarah grew up and began studying for the priesthood in countries with Islamic majorities.

Robert Sarah has opposed various attempts to provide legal recognition to gays and lesbians, often casting his remarks in terms of a defence of traditional Catholic and African values against contemporary secular Western culture.

Robert Sarah said that although such unions were increasingly recognised in Europe, they were not approved of in Africa.

Robert Sarah blamed "Western ideological colonialism" for promoting the idea of gay marriage, which he warned would "destroy Catholic doctrine".

Robert Sarah said the synod's interim report or relatio appropriately objected to international agencies and governments that condition foreign aid on "the introduction of regulations based on gender ideology", but needed to underscore objections to same-sex marriage.

Robert Sarah suggested that advocacy on behalf of same-sex unions formed "part of a new ideology of evil".

On 6 January 2011, Robert Sarah was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

On 10 March 2015, Pope Francis appointed Robert Sarah to serve as a member of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.

Cardinal Robert Sarah was admitted to hospital on 12 July 2021 and underwent successful surgery on his prostate.

Robert Sarah was released from hospital on 27 July 2021.