Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

The waffler and the thunderer: why Anglicans and Catholics will never unite


Last week The Spectator published a fascinating and mischievous piece by Ysenda Maxtone Graham entitled ‘A tale of two Sarahs: the cuddly bishop vs the terrifying cardinal’.

The first Sarah is Sarah Mullally, who is just about to take office as the first woman Bishop of London; she’s a former nurse – indeed, the former Chief Nursing Officer and therefore Dame Sarah Mullally in her own right. But Hattie Jacques she ain’t: she’s friendly and ‘inclusive’ – i.e. fluent in churchspeak waffle after only two years as a suffragan bishop.

The second is Cardinal Robert Sarah (pronounced Sar-AH), African-born Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. He’s a traditionalist who is technically in charge of worship for the whole Catholic Church, though Pope Francis doesn’t pay a blind bit of attention to anything he says and has hemmed him in with his own allies.

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