2050: Prospects for the Church

by Robert Sarah, Nicolas Diat

Cardinal Sarah returns with this must-read rumination on his hopes, fears, and realistic predictions for the Catholic Church in the coming decades, with a special view of his home continent of Africa and the pontificate of Leo XIV.With characteristic directness, intensity, and depth, Cardinal Sarah addresses the liturgy, mission work, religious vocations, tradition, atheism, the papacy, and the family, among many other current issues. In every case, our only path to freedom is radical, loving fidelity to Christ and to our Creator. In His Eminence’s words, “to submit to reality is already to submit to God.”Unlike what the world preaches, the answer to the seemingly unsurmountable challenges of today and of tomorrow is not mere economic prosperity. After all, Cardinal Sarah says, “the worst violence does not arise from the shantytowns but is plotted in the gilded salons of the powerful, in the felt-lined cabins of the luxury yachts.” The answer is not a new Church, for “the Church needs, not to be reconstructed, but rather to be purified. Not to be reformed, but to be sanctified.”Today, there is perhaps no voice more credible and resonant than that of Cardinal Sarah. He is a prophet not of doom, but of renewal. This book compiles his invaluable insight on current issues into one approachable volume.

205 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2026

About the author

Robert Cardinal Sarah was born in Guinea, West Africa. Made an Archbishop by Pope John Paul II and a Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI, he was named the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments by Pope Francis in 2014.