Cardinal Robert Sarah, a favorite of conservatives who see him as embodying the traditionalist approaches of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, is being considered as a potential successor to Pope Francis.

The 79-year-old cardinal from Guinea is seen as a leading figure for conservative Catholics, particularly by those who believe Pope Francis was too influenced by modern secular thought. 

Sarah, who formerly led the Vatican’s Cor Unum charity, has had numerous disagreements with Pope Francis. 

Their differing views became most apparent when Sarah and the retired Pope Benedict XVI co-authored “From the Depths of Our Hearts: Priesthood, Celibacy and the Crisis of the Catholic Church” in 2020. The book defended the “necessity” of priestly celibacy in the Latin Rite, coinciding with Francis’s consideration of allowing married priests in the Amazon region due to a priest shortage. 

Subsequently, Francis dismissed Benedict’s secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, from his position, and later retired Sarah after he reached 75. The possibility of a retired pope influencing the current one raised concerns among canon lawyers and theologians when Benedict chose to keep the white papal cassock as “pope emeritus.” The controversy subsided after Benedict withdrew as a co-author.

However, Sarah’s 2019 book is generating even more discussion among conservative Christians following Francis’s passing. 

Sarah has called “The Day Is Now Far Spent” his most important work. In it, he laments the departure of Europe and Western civilization from Christianity and the challenges posed by mass migration. 

In contrast, Francis had openly immigration policies. 

Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert and one of the last dignitaries to meet with Francis before his death, has cited Pope John Paul II – who shares ideological similarities with Sarah – in recent speeches. At the Munich Security Conference, Vance hailed John Paul II as “one of the most extraordinary champions of democracy.” He also acknowledged John Paul II’s call for new evangelization at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

Sarah has also co-authored “God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith” (2015) and “The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise” (2017), both with French journalist Nicolas Diat. 

The following are key quotes from Sarah, highlighted in anticipation of Francis’s funeral later this week. The papal conclave will convene in the coming weeks to elect the next leader of the Catholic Church. 

In “The Day is Now Far Spent,” Sarah claimed that the West has severed ties with its heritage. 

“The West no longer knows who it is, because it no longer knows and does not want to know who made it, who established it, as it was and as it is. The West refuses to acknowledge its Christian roots.”

“By losing its faith, Europe has also lost its reason to be. It is experiencing a lethal decline and is becoming a new civilization, one that is cut off from its Christian roots.”​

Sarah contended in “The Day is Now Far Spent” that gender ideology is an offense to God’s creation and cannot alter a person’s biological sex. 

“Gender ideology is a Luciferian refusal to receive a sexual nature from God.”

In a March 2019 interview with “Valeurs Actuelles,” Sarah reportedly criticized the Catholic Church’s support of mass migration policies in Europe, pointing out the negative consequences for the migrants themselves. 

“All migrants who arrive in Europe are penniless, without work, without dignity,” Sarah . “This is what the Church wants? The Church cannot cooperate with this new form of slavery that has become mass migration.”​

In “The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise,” Sarah argues that modern distractions isolate people from God.

“Distraction is the devil’s tool for cutting man off from God.”

In “God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith,” Sarah emphasizes loyalty to Christ above popularity or politics and consistently opposes moral relativism in family and social norms. 

“The Church is not a human organization. She is not subject to the fashions of the day or the winds of doctrine. She must be faithful to Christ.”

“God or nothing: there is no other choice. Those who choose God have everything. Those who choose nothing are lost.”

“If truth no longer exists, if everything is relative, then man becomes a slave to his passions.”