Christians need not profess the Catholic faith in order to recognize the importance of the moment.
In short, someone must now teach the world to seek truth in something other than whims and fashion.
On Monday, 88-year-old Pope Francis died, bringing an end to a papacy that, in many ways, conservatives regarded as little more than an apostasy and setting the stage for a papal enclave that could result in the election of a conservative favorite, 79-year-old Cardinal Robert Sarah from the west African nation of Guinea.
Of course, the phrase “could result” must temper conservatives’ expectations.
In fact, on Monday The Guardian profiled Sarah as one of nine possible candidates to succeed Francis. So the African cardinal’s elevation to the papacy hardly qualifies as a foregone conclusion.
Nonetheless, Sarah needs and deserves our prayers, particularly in light of some alternatives.
For instance, 59-year-old José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça of Portugal has also emerged as a favorite. Mendonça “has attracted controversy for sympathizing with tolerant views on same-sex relationships and allying himself with a feminist Benedictine sister who favors women’s ordination and is pro-choice,” per The Guardian.
Needless to say, one who supports abortion cannot reconcile one’s views with Christianity, let alone Catholicism.
To his credit, the late Pope Francis did denounce abortion as the murder of children. Unfortunately, he spoke few other truths.
Does Sarah sound like a good candidate for the papacy?
Francis regularly invited transgender sex workers to have lunch with him at the Vatican. Of course, no Christian objects to that. Jesus would have done the same, and He would have done it from love. But the Lord would have done so for the purpose of teaching about sin, not to validate all personal choices. In that respect, therefore, the late pope’s endorsement of wokeness constituted one of his truly catastrophic failures.
Worse yet, in comments about then-Vice President Kamala Harris and then-former President Donald Trump prior to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Francis made it clear that he equated the evil of abortion with opposition to open borders.
“They are both against life — the one who throws away migrants and the one who kills children,” Francis said.
Nothing strikes the honest reader as more hypocritical than touting open borders from behind Vatican walls.
In short, while one cannot read others’ hearts, the late pope qualified as more of a pro-life globalist than anything.
Conservatives, therefore, would greet Sarah’s elevation to the papacy with unbridled joy.
“Europe seems programmed for self-destruction,” Sarah said of mass immigration, per the Catholic Herald.
Likewise, in a clip posted Monday to the social media platform X, the west African cardinal, speaking softly in French, told an interviewer that he feared for Europe’s fate now that the continent had largely abandoned its Christian heritage.
“You know,” he said, sounding almost mournful, “the biggest worry is that Europe doesn’t want anymore or has lost the sense of its origins. It has lost its roots. Yet, a tree without roots, it dies. And I’m afraid the West is dying.”
Many Americans believe that God sent Trump, a billionaire real-estate developer from New York, to save the United States. Thus, might God also send a black cardinal from Africa to save the West from itself?
“You are invaded, still, by other cultures, other peoples, which will progressively dominate you by their numbers and completely change your culture, your convictions, your values,” Sarah said later in the interview.
🚨 WOW! One of the frontrunners for Pope, Cardinal Robert Sarah, is a HARDLINER against mass migration pic.twitter.com/EJCbgofoXt
HUGE!
“I’m afraid the west is dying. You’re being invaded by other cultures, other peoples…which will progressively dominate you by their numbers,…
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 21, 2025
As one might expect, other conservative X users spoke of Sarah with hope and awe.
“His Eminence must ascend—for the sake of humanity,” one user wrote.
Cardinal Robert Sarah—staunch anti-communist, anti-woke, and a fierce defender of tradition, family, and faith—may well be the next Pope.
If anyone can reignite the flame of God across a broken world, it’s him.
His Eminence must ascend—for the sake of humanity. pic.twitter.com/rU4tOqoko1
— Nicholas Lissack (@NicholasLissack) April 21, 2025
“His aura is immense,” another X user wrote.
🚨 Cardinal Robert Sarah arriving at the Vatican this morning
His aura is immense
Cardinal Robert, we are with you! ✝️ pic.twitter.com/5XhqWogodR
— Mambo Italiano (@mamboitaliano__) April 22, 2025
Of course, one knows exactly how liberals would respond to a Sarah papacy. For clues, look no further than their treatment of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. After all, black conservatives call forth the demon inside every liberal.
In sum, speaking from personal experience, many lapsed Catholics undoubtedly have thought about returning. But we cannot endure another Francis. If the enclave chooses Mendonça or someone of his ilk, then many of us will flee a church that no longer teaches Christianity in favor of one that does.
That is but one more reason to pray for Sarah.
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