Pope Francis today appointed a raft of new members to Cardinal Robert Sarah’s liturgy department, choosing a series of pastoral moderates to replace more conservative-minded figures.
The move will be read as the Pope’s attempt to rein in the cardinal who has consistently called for priests to celebrate Mass facing East, something the Pope reprimanded him for earlier this year.
Among the new members of the department – formally known as the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments – are Piero Marini, a long-serving master of papal ceremonies and a key proponent of the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Others named as members, who will effectively oversee Cardinal Sarah’s work and vote on decisions, include Cardinal Pietro Parolin (Vatican Secretary of State) and New Zealand Cardinal John Dew.
Cardinal Sarah, from Guinea, has consistently called for priests to turn their backs on the congregation while celebrating Mass and has struck a very different tone to the Pope’s merciful approach to families in difficult circumstances. Francis this week spoke at the St John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in place of the cardinal, where he stressed the importance of priests accompanying families struggling to live up to the Church’s teaching on family life.
The complete list of department members is as follows:
Rainer Maria Woelki
John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan
Pietro Parolin
Gérald Cyprien Lacroix
Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo
John Atcherley Dew
Ricardo Blázquez Pérez
Arlindo Gomes Furtado
Gianfranco Ravasi
Beniamino Stella
Dominic Jala
Domenico Sorrentino
Denis James Hart
Piero Marini
Bernard-Nicolas Aubertin
Romulo G. Valles
Lorenzo Voltolini Esti
Arthur Joseph Serratelli
Claudio Maniago
Bernt Ivar Eidsvig
Miguel Ángel D'Annibale
José Manuel Garcia Cordeiro
Charles Morerod
Jean-Pierre Kwambamba Masi
Benny Mario Travas
John Bosco Chang Shin-Ho
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