Cardinal Sarah: To Oppose the Pope is to be Outside the Church

It is really amazing how emboldened the enemies of Pope Francis have become.  Just the other day, Zuhlsdorf gave advice on his blog on how to protest at the Vatican.

Also this past week there was also a "roundtable" including some of the "super stars" among the enemies of Francis, such as Michael Matt, Michael Voris, Taylor Marshall, and John-Henry Westin.  The topic of that roundtable was, of course, the heresy in the Church led by Pope Francis.  The "roundtable" was described by Lifesitenews as such:

Lay Catholic leaders from around the world, increasingly alarmed about the upcoming Amazonian Synod and how it threatens to disfigure and “Protestantize” the Church, gathered not far from the Vatican today to discuss their grave concerns.

The roundtable discussion, titled “Our Church – reformed or deformed?” was hosted by the international pro-life association Voice of the Family. Over 5,000 people across the continents tuned in.

On the eve of the synod, they described the multifaceted diabolical menace to the Catholic Church it portends to be. Their choice of strong language reflects the peril they sense: That after the synod, what will emerge will no longer be the Catholic Church.

 
. . .

 
“There are, at this moment, two religions within the Catholic Church,” declared Professor Roberto de Mattei.

“The first is the traditional Catholicism, the religion of those who, in the current confusion, continue to be faithful to the immutable Magisterium of the Church,” said de Mattei.

 
“The second, until a few months ago without a name, now has a name: it is the Amazonian religion because, as declared by the person currently governing the Church, there is a plan to give the Church ‘an Amazonian face,’” explained de Mattei.

 
“Two religions cannot coexist within the same Church,” he reaffirmed. 

. . .

“Pope Francis and his clerical allies are creating a globalist organization with a Catholic-appearing face,” said Church Militant’s Michael Voris.

 
“What is emerging is not Catholic. The façade should be dropped and for once truth be allowed to prevail.”

 
Voris explained that Pope Francis has moved the Church to “align with a counterfeit kind of theology inspired by godless atheism, and in the rush to advance this, he’s surrounded himself with numerous clerical scoundrels — some who have been complicit in the performing of or cover-up of sex abuse of minors or young adults, mostly male.” 

None of these people even try to hide the fact that they are enemies of Pope Francis.  They consider the Holy Father to be the greatest threat to the Catholic Church on earth, and they are spreading that message as far and wide as they can.

War has been openly declared upon Pope Francis.

At that same time that they are openly at war with the Vicar of Christ, these people consider themselves to be the only true Catholics left in existence. As de Mattei said, there are two religions within the Catholic Church:  one led by Pope Francis, and one led by the enemies of Pope Francis.

And as de Mattei so rightly declared, "two religions cannot coexist within the same Church."

Which one will prevail?

We were given the answer to that question over 2,000 years ago as recorded in Matthew 16:17:

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it

Not much to argue with in that statement made by Jesus Christ to St. Peter.  And yet, the enemies of Peter's successor cannot stop arguing.  How do they justify this? By declaring Pope Francis a heretic and his papacy invalid.  Many have started referring to Pope Francis as an anti pope.

And where do they get the authority to make such a radical condemnation? Well, basically out of thin air.

They try point to Scripture when Paul "resisted" Peter. That is hardly the same thing. Peter had refused to associate with the Gentiles out of fear of the Jews, and Paul told him he was wrong.

Galatians 2:

11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

Paul was not accusing Peter of being a heretic, an invalid pope, a danger to the faith, an enemy of Christ.  Paul never called for Peter's resignation.  The accusation had nothing to do with Peter's official actions or words as the leader of the Church.  It had to do with Peter's personal actions, which were irrefutably wrong and scandalous.

As far as obeying the authority in the Church, St. Paul wrote this in Hebrews 13:17:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

To that, the enemies of Pope Francis shout with defiance:  "Non Serviam!!"  As we now see, there are even priests giving instructions on how to protest against Church leaders.

These enemies of Francis often quote saints out of context trying to prove that it is right to oppose the Vicar of Christ.  One saint they often use is St. Catherine of Siena.  St. Catherine called for the Pope to return to Rome.  That is all she did.  It was hardly a declaration of war against the Papacy as seen in the enemies of Francis.

And as I have posted on my blog, St. Catherine, in the Dialogue with God the Father, quoted God the Father as making this bold statement:

"When He returned to Me, rising to Heaven from the conversation of men at the Ascension, He left you this sweet key of obedience; for as you know He left His vicar, the Christ, on earth, whom you are all obliged to obey until death, and whoever is outside His obedience is in a state of damnation, as I have already told you in another place."

And now we have heard this same statement made by Cardinal Robert Sarah, in an interview he gave with Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily.  HERE is an article about the interview in The Tablet.  HERE is the original interview, which is in Italian, but which Chrome will translate into English.

The enemies of Francis have consistently praised Cardinal Sarah as "being on their side", one of their favorite cardinals.  Many would like to him become Pope.  He is almost as popular with them as Cardinal Burke.  Why?  The Tablet explains:

The 74-year-old cardinal, who Pope Francis appointed in 2014 as head of the office overseeing liturgical matters, often is portrayed as a critic of Pope Francis, especially because of the cardinal's cautious attitude toward welcoming Muslim migrants to Europe, his concern about the church acting more like a social-service agency than a missionary church and his traditional approach to the liturgy.

But as The Tablet further reports:

Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, has said that the people who portray him as an opponent of Pope Francis are being used by the devil to help divide the church. 

"The truth is that the church is represented on earth by the vicar of Christ, that is by the Pope. And whoever is against the Pope is, ipso facto, outside the church," the cardinal said in an interview published in Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily.

BAM!!!  Cardinal Sarah distanced himself as far as he possibly could from those who wish to destroy Pope Francis.  He has completely denounced them, telling them they don't even belong to the same Church as he, Cardinal Sarah, does. 

Cardinal Sarah is doing nothing more than quoting the teaching of the Church, as I have often done on this blog.  From Pope Leo XIII, SATIS COGNITUM (On the Unity of the Church):

The words - and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it - proclaim and establish the authority of which we speak. "What is the it?" (writes Origen). "Is it the rock upon which Christ builds the Church or the Church? The expression indeed is ambiguous, as if the rock and the Church were one and the same. I indeed think that this is so, and that neither against the rock upon which Christ builds His Church nor against the Church shall the gates of Hell prevail" (Origenes, Comment. in Matt., tom. xii., n. ii). The meaning of this divine utterance is, that, notwithstanding the wiles and intrigues which they bring to bear against the Church, it can never be that the church committed to the care of Peter shall succumb or in any wise fail. "For the Church, as the edifice of Christ who has wisely built 'His house upon a rock,' cannot be conquered by the gates of Hell, which may prevail over any man who shall be off the rock and outside the Church, but shall be powerless against it" (Ibid.).

Therefore God confided His Church to Peter so that he might safely guard it with his unconquerable power. He invested him, therefore, with the needful authority; since the right to rule is absolutely required by him who has to guard human society really and effectively. This, furthermore, Christ gave: "To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven." And He is clearly still speaking of the Church, which a short time before He had called His own, and which He declared He wished to build on Peter as a foundation. The Church is typified not only as an edifice but as a Kingdom, and every one knows that the keys constitute the usual sign of governing authority. Wherefore when Christ promised to give to Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, he promised to give him power and authority over the Church.

 "The Son committed to Peter the office of spreading the knowledge of His Father and Himself over the whole world. He who increased the Church in all the earth, and proclaimed it to be stronger than the heavens, gave to a mortal man all power in Heaven when He handed him the Keys" (S. Johannes Chrysostomus, Hom. liv., in Matt. v., 2). In this same sense He says: "Whatsoever thou shall bind upon earth it shall be bound also in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth it shall be loosed also in Heaven." This metaphorical expression of binding and loosing indicates the power of making laws, of judging and of punishing; and the power is said to be of such amplitude and force that God will ratify whatever is decreed by it. Thus it is supreme and absolutely independent, so that, having no other power on earth as its superior, it embraces the whole Church and all things committed to the Church.

That last sentence tells us that Peter stands apart from every one else on earth and that no human being has the right or authority to judge the man sitting in the Chair of Peter.   It is the same as if we were judging Christ Himself.  To be in opposition to Peter is to be in opposition to Christ.

How can we be so sure of this?  From Pope Leo XIII:

And since all Christians must be closely united in the communion of one immutable faith, Christ the Lord, in virtue of His prayers, obtained for Peter that in the fulfilment of his office he should never fall away from the faith. "But I have asked for thee that thy faith fail not" (Luke xxii., 32), and He furthermore commanded him to impart light and strength to his brethren as often as the need should arise: "Confirm thy brethren" (Ibid.). He willed then that he whom He had designated as the foundation of the Church should be the defence of its faith. "Could not Christ who confided to him the Kingdom by His own authority have strengthened the faith of one whom He designated a rock to show the foundation of the Church?" (S. Ambrosius, De Fide, lib. iv., n. 56). 

We either believe this or we are not Catholic.  It is that serious.  If we do not submit to the Chair of Peter, we are outside the Church and, as God the Father said to St. Catherine of Siena, we are in a state of damnation. 

That has been the teaching of the Church from her very beginning.  And that is exactly the meaning of Cardinal Sarah's statements.

When a man is elected to the Chair of Peter, he, in effect, ceases to exist.  That is why he takes a completely new name.  He, as an individual, is of no importance.  It doesn't matter if Jorge Bergoglio or Bozo the Clown sits in the Chair of Peter.  Once that person is installed as Pope, he is now the successor of St. Peter and all of the promises and charisms given to Peter pass on to him.  He is the Vicar of Christ and will remain so until he dies or steps down from the Papcacy, and we as followers of Jesus Christ owe him our undivided loyalty.  That does not guarantee the sanctity of the individual pope, but it makes absolute certain that he will never mislead the Church.

Those opposed to Pope Francis, whether they realize it or not, are not looking to defeat Jorge Bergoglio.  They are opposed to Jesus Christ and are trying to destroy His Church.  They are in league with the devil himself.

Our Lord said He would never abandon His Church or Peter.  That is a truth the enemies of Pope Francis want you to forget.  They want you to think that it the laity who have the power and authority to lead the Church.  They do not want you to look at the Chair of Peter as Our Lord told us to do. They, under the leadership of Satan himself, do not want that central, God-given authority in the Church.

If the enemies of Pope Francis succeed in their diabolical mission and destroy the Holy Father, it would destroy the Papacy for all time.  It would mean that any time the people in the Church decide they don't like the Pope, they will boot him out of office.  It will make every Pope a lame duck with no authority to defend or lead the Church in any way.  To destroy Peter's authority is to destroy the Church.

These people are doing the bidding of Satan himself.

Anyone who tries to tell you that the devil has usurped the Chair of Peter is speaking on behalf of the diabolical.  Have no communion with such a person.

The enemies of Pope Francis will fail.  That is as certain as the sun rising in the east tomorrow morning.  But there will be many casualties in this titanic struggle.  Don't be one of those on the wrong side of history.  It is literally a matter of your eternal life and death.

It is no surprise that the leaders of the enemies of Pope Francis have not responded to Cardinal Sarah in any way.  I highly doubt that they ever will.  But you can be sure they will never again refer to him as one of their allies.

God bless Cardinal Sarah.  May many others follow his lead.