"I am certain that Africa will save the family,that Africa will save the Church" Cardinal Sarah

“I have absolute confidence in the African culture. I have absolute confidence in the African faith and I am certain that Africa will save the family, that Africa will save the Church. Africa saved the Holy Family (cf. the flight into Egypt, ed.). In this modern age, it will also save the human family.” This time it wasn’t in Rome nor in the parishes and before the French media that Cardinal Robert Sarah confessed his unswerving faith in Africa, but on the continent where he was born and exercised his vocation as priest and then bishop until his departure for Rome in 2001.

The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments made this statement while visiting Benin, as part of the 61st Marian pilgrimage to Dassa-Zoumé last month. At the same time, his book God or Nothing, which has just been translated into Italian, was released in Rimini. Published in French last winter, Cardinal Sarah’s book, written in collaboration with writer Nicolas Diat, doesn’t indulge in pious wishes, nor does it beat around the bush. It received a considerable amount of attention from the press following it’s release on February 25, when the two authors embarked on a ten day media tour. On this occasion, the African cardinal met with many journalists and visited many parishes in Paris and its environs. 

Since then, God or Nothing has become a bestseller in France, with no less than 20,000 copies sold by early August. To date, it has also been translated into nine languages. It has recently come out in Italian, English and German. The German edition is prefaced by Archbishop Gänswein, Benedict XVI’s right hand man, and was introduced by Cardinal Müller in Regensburg on September 1. It is also soon to be published in Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian and Filipino. Cardinal Sarah is considered the leader of the African bishops who mean to defend the traditional position of the Church at the Synod in October, particularly as regards access to communion for remarried divorcees. Following Pope Francis, he relentlessly condemns the ideological colonialism imposed upon developing countries by the supposedly “civilized” countries.

Curiously, he has not been criticized for his book, in spite of his radical and staunch comments. Maybe it is because this prince of the Church is so humble, and enjoys a mutual trust with Pope Francis, that he wins the admiration of all those who approach him. It is probably also because there is a consistency between his words and his life, marked by hardship, courage facing the Marxist dictatorship of Sekou Toure, and piety. The truth is that, whether it be in his writings or in his spoken word, “God or nothing” are three words that ring true.