Robert Sarah was born in Ourous, a village in French Guinea, the son of converts to Catholicism. Ordained in 1969, he was named Archbishop of Conakry at thirty-four, among the youngest bishops in the world, shepherding the Church under the Marxist dictatorship of Ahmed Sékou Touré, whose regime is said to have placed him on a list of those to be eliminated.
Called to Rome by John Paul II, he served at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and as president of the pontifical council Cor Unum. In 2014 Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, where for seven years he became the most prominent curial voice for reverence in the Sacred Liturgy.
Through a trilogy of book-length interviews he reached an audience far beyond the Curia, calling the modern West to silence, to interior conversion, and to the worship of God above the noise of the age.
Consequential Quotes
God or nothing. That is the choice that confronts every man.
Silence is more important than any other human work. For it expresses God.
The liturgy is not about us. It is about God. Turning toward the Lord is turning toward the East, toward the Cross.
The Church is going through a dark time… but Christ will not abandon his Bride.
Major Works & Initiatives
God or Nothing
A book-length interview with Nicolas Diat, a memoir from a Guinean village under Sékou Touré's regime to the Roman Curia, and a defense of the faith.
The Power of Silence
Against the Dictatorship of Noise, a meditation on silence as the dwelling-place of God, widely read beyond Catholic circles.
Prefect of Divine Worship
Led the Congregation for Divine Worship under Pope Francis; a leading voice for reverence, Latin, and worship oriented toward the Lord.
The Day Is Now Far Spent
A diagnosis of the spiritual and cultural crisis of the West, and a summons to interior conversion.
Controversies
The 2016 ad orientem appeal
At a London liturgy conference Cardinal Sarah urged priests to celebrate Mass 'facing East' from the first Sunday of Advent. The Holy See Press Office issued a clarification within days noting no new liturgical directives were foreseen, a public divergence on the direction of worship.
From the Depths of Our Hearts (2020)
A book defending priestly celibacy appeared with both Sarah and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI credited as authors. Amid dispute over Benedict's role, the attribution was revised. The episode became a flashpoint in debates over celibacy following the Amazon Synod.