Cardinal Sarah, the African voice rattling the Church's woke wing

Sarah, the cardinal dividing the Church ahead of the conclave

Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, an exorcist, is being mentioned as a candidate for the throne of Peter with a message that spares no one: he calls gender ideology satanic, rejects wokism and opposes mass immigration. The story, picked up by Libertad Digital, has peine the culture war within Catholicism just as the papal succession is back on the table.

He is no ordinary candidate. Sarah represents the doctrinally hardline wing, the one that refuses to compromise on inclusive language or unconditional welcome policies. His profile — African, an exorcist, critical of Rome's pogre drift — makes him the mirror in which two clashing souls of the Church see themselves.

Who is Robert Sarah and why he is being tipped for the conclave

Sarah is a Guinean cardinal and an exorcist, a résumé that in itself places him at the opposite end of the usual profile. His stance on gender ideology as a satanic phenomenon and his outright rejection of wokism put him in the most conservative wing of the College of Cardinals. For part of the Catholic electorate, he is the antidote to what they see as capitulation to the 21st century; for others, he is the guarantee of a schism foretold.

The discussion soon drifted into identity territory. Some argue that his African origin adds an uncomfortable nuance: he is criticised for opposing mass immigration while himself coming from another continent. The argument, made with a smirk, ignores the distinction between legal and illegal migration that others offer in response. The controversy is served.

The conclave as a cultural battleground

The papal election here works as a thermometer of a broader war. One line of analysis holds that cardinals placed by the pogre wing will block any option that smells of doctrinal regression. The most pessimistic calculation for Sarah suggests that, even if his name is floated, the College of Cardinals will opt for a continuity candidate. The prediction, with reservations, is that the next pontiff will not break with the current direction.

Others read the phenomenon the other way around: the mere fact that Sarah appears on the shortlists shows the traditional wing is not willing to disappear without a fight. The discussion about his Jewish-sounding name — raised as a conspiratorial argument by one participant — reveals just how much the debate mixes theology, identity and prejudice.

Immigration, gender and wokism: the ideological package

The programme attributed to Sarah is not a set of loose measures but a coherent package: rejection of gender ideology, criticism of wokism and opposition to mass immigration. For his defenders, it is the only possible answer to what they see as a dissolution of doctrine. For his critics, it is the recipe for an isolation that would condemn the Church to irrelevance.

The curious thing is that the debate goes beyond religion. The arguments about cultural adaptation, language and migration legality that appear in the discussion are the same ones heard in any political talk show. The Church here is merely the stage on which a play about something else is performed.

The outcome hangs in the air

No one knows whether Sarah will become pope. What is known is that his name has already served a purpose: forcing people to take sides. The papal election, when it comes, will say a great deal about where an institution that has spent decades torn between tradition and the modern age is heading. On this showing, the conclave should be anything but boring. Though, knowing the Church, you never can tell.