Social media push for Cardinal Sarah as next pope gains momentum

The Catholic Herald• April 24, 2025

A social media push for Cardinal Robert Sarah to become the next pope appears to be gaining momentum in the wake of the death of Pope Francis.

What are described as “neatly packaged sound bites” are circulating rapidly around conservative social media spheres of influence, reports the Daily Telegraph.

It describes how this appears to be having an impact, at least in terms of the betting markets, which have seen Cardinal Sarah’s odds change significantly from just a 2 per cent chance at becoming the next pope, to the British betting company William Hill quoting him at 14/1, making him the “seventh favourite” in betting terms.

An unattributed video interview with the cardinal warning of the dangers of migration to Europe also began to be widely circulated after the death of Pope Francis was announced on 21 April.

“My biggest worry is that Europe has lost the sense of its origins,” Cardinal Sarah says in the footage. “It has lost its roots…I’m afraid the West is dying.

“You are invaded still by other cultures, other people which will progressively dominate you by their numbers and completely change your culture, your convictions, your culture.”

Not long after, more assertive statements on X were soon declaring that, far from being an outsider, Cardinal Sarah is among the frontrunners to replace Pope Francis, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Much of the initial impetus appears to have been driven by a Catholic social media influencer from India called Sachin Jose Ettiyil, who posted a list of candidates most likely to be elected pope to his 206,000 followers. He placed Cardinal Sarah at the top. The post was viewed 1.6 million times (and counting).

The Daily Telegraph acknowledges that it “remains to be seen whether the online attention the cardinal has received translates into the kind of momentum that could propel him to the papacy”, especially given the nature of a conclave, which is famously sealed off from the rest of the world, precisely to protect cardinals from external and media influences.

The British broadsheet also notes that there appears to be an element of foreign interference potentially at play in the social media push, citing that accounts known to promote pro-Russian narratives, like Radio Genoa and African Hub, with more than two million followers between them, have been pushing the Cardinal-Sarah-as-pope narrative.

“Catholics worldwide want Cardinal Robert Sarah to be the next Pope,” African Hub posted.

At the same time, while social media hype is notoriously fickle and unreliable, the Telegraph notes that various conservative Catholic commentators have long predicted that Cardinal Sarah is a genuine papabile, the Italian term used to denote a credible candidate for the papacy.

It cites a 2020 article in the Catholic publication Crisis Magazine, Michael Warren Davis, a prominent US conservative Catholic writer, argued that “Cardinal Sarah is most likely to succeed Pope Francis” on account of his doctrinal soundness and liturgical positions.

The African cardinal has firmly maintained the conservative line on everything from same-sex marriage and gender ideology to the dangers of Western secularism, Islamic fundamentalism and the threat uncontrolled migration poses to European culture and values, the Telegraph notes.

As a result, the Daily Telegraph argues, Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea is exactly the kind of “anti-woke Pope” that many conservative and traditionalist Catholics yearn for after more than a decade in which the progressive element of the Roman Church has been in the ascendant.

However, it also acknowledges that while the cardinal’s courage in standing up to two Guinean dictators, Ahmed Sékou Touré and Lansana Conté, coupled with his traditional views, may win him support in African and US conservative circles, it may well not count for much in a conclave involving cardinals drawn from every corner of the world.

The Telegraph notes an African Catholic clergyman who says there is “little likelihood” of the cardinal becoming Pope.

As a result, the paper reports, many Catholic conservatives are instead pinning their hopes on Cardinal Peter Erdö, the Hungarian Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest.

He has also expressed concern about migration and is seen as a traditionalist who would restore the primacy of religious teachings after Pope Francis’s reformist moves. He is also seen as a more accommodating figure than Cardinal Sarah, meaning he could potentially win over moderates at conclave.

Nevertheless, he is said to still be a long way behind the leading contenders, such as the reformist Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s politically deft secretary of state under Pope Francis.

Papal elections are notoriously unpredictable, however, meaning Cardinal Sarah’s chances shouldn’t be written off. Pope Francis himself was considered a rank outsider before his election in 2013.

Sarah was first brought to Rome in 2001 by St John Paul II, who appointed him secretary at the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples (Propaganda Fidei), the Vatican department charged with overseeing the mission ad gentes (to the nations), the proclamation of the word of God.

He was then appointed head of Cor Unum by Benedict XVI, the council which exercises the diakonia of the Holy Father. Finally, he was promoted by Pope Francis to Divine Worship, where he was charged with the leitourgia.

“One should not identify leading a bureau with being seized with the animating mission of the same, as there are plenty of examples to the contrary,” Fr Raymond de Souza writes of Cardinal Sarah’s career.

“But in Cardinal Sarah we see a clear model of man who has lived – not just by appointment but by zeal and devotion – that triplex munera of the Church.”

For Sarah and the forthcoming conclave, what remains more assured is that the African cardinal will have a vote that counts toward who becomes the next pope.

In a recent social media post, Sachin Jose Ettiyil notes: “Cardinal Sarah, who turns 80 in June, would have lost his right to participate and vote in a conclave if it had not been held at this time.”

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Photo: Cardinal Robert Sarah at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Victories in Dakar, Senegal, 4 December 2023. (Photo by GUY PETERSON/AFP via Getty Images.)