In an interview originally published in 2015 in the French weekly Homme Noveau, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments weighed in, if somewhat obliquely, on the question of the dubia. A quick (and slightly cleaned up) machine translation of the Spanish reprint in InfoCatólica gives us a somewhat rough, but understandable rendering:
The Cardinal feels called to intervene as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments because the present lack of direction involves three sacraments: marriage, Penitence and Eucharist. According to the Cardinal, the level of confusion we are now experiencing is due to a lack of proper training that regrettably affects even his fellow bishops.
Sarah has stressed that each bishop, he himself in primis, is bound by the doctrine of monogamous and indisoluble marriage that Christ restored to its original form and in which man, woman and children find their wellbeing.
This truth cannot simply cease to have consequences for the reception of Holy Communion: “The Church in its entirety has always firmly maintained that no one may receive Communion who is aware of having committed a grave sin, a principle which was definitively confirmed by Saint John Paul II’s encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia.” And the Cardinal-Prefect added that “Not even a pope can waive this divine law.”
It would be wonderful if Cardinal Sarah added the full weight of his name and position to that of the Four Cardinals. May God prompt him to do exactly that.
(See the original Spanish here. We’ve updated our translation with one provided by Jonathan Walker)
UPDATE: It appears that although three separate outlets have reported on this interview in just the past two weeks (see here, here, and here) the quotes in it are derived from an interview originally published in November, 2015. This means Cardinal Sarah has yet to offer a present opinion related to the dubia; though his previous opinions seem very much applicable. We have updated our story to reflect this new information.
