Pope Francis appoints Robert Sarah to head the Vatican's congregation of liturgical practices

Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea has been appointed the new head for the Vatican congregation that oversees and determines the liturgical practices of the Catholic Church world wide.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Pope Francis made the appointment on November 23, though it wasn't announced until the next day.

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Sarah, who had been the president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum and secretary for the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples from 2001 to 2010 prior to his appointment, is filling in a spot that has been vacant for a remarkably long time.

With this appointment he is now the most senior African in the Church's hierarchy.

Sarah is also now the prefect for the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which among its wide range of duties, is charged with regulating the Church's liturgy, administrating the sacraments and overseeing translations of liturgical texts.

Now 69, Sarah is succeeding Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, who was the head of the congregation from December through August of 2008 before he vacated the post following his appointment as the archbishop of Valencia.

The congregation has been behind recent efforts to get new translations of the Catholic celebration of Mass translated into English.

Back in 2001, the congregation published new guidelines for translating liturgical documents. These directed translators to adhere strictly to Latin texts in their translations.

That same year, the congregation also formed the Vox Clara, an international committee whose duties were to oversee translations of texts throughout the world.

Sarah is fluent in French, English and Italian, and served as the archbishop of the Conakry archdiocese in Guinea from 1979-2001. He has a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, a Jerusalem-based branch of the Pontifical University Antonianum.

The Vatican's announcement did not include who would replace Sarah at Cor Unum, but Pope Francis is known to be in the midst of reforming the Vatican's bureaucracy. It is currently unclear if that position will remain open.

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