“One gets the impression, or it’s interpreted this way in the media, that [the Pope] thinks we’re talking too much about abortion, too much about the integrity of marriage as between one man and one woman. But we can never talk enough about that.”For background, read Burke Says Liberal Catholic Candidates Must Repent Publicly and also read Pope Francis I Says Wayward Politicians Can't Take Communion (e.g.: Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, et. al.) as well as Burke Instructs Flock: NEVER Vote for a Pro-choice Candidate
-- Cardinal Raymond L. Burke
In addition, read Rep. Nancy Pelosi is a Fraud, Catholic Leaders Say
--From "Pope Changes Roster at Influential Vatican Office" by The Associated Press 12/17/13
Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington was appointed Monday to the Congregation for Bishops. The pope also reconfirmed Cardinal William Levada, the former archbishop of San Francisco and former head of the Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog office.
Some members of the congregation were not reconfirmed. Cardinal Raymond Burke will no longer serve in the office. The former St. Louis archbishop had been a member for several years. Burke retains his position as the head of the Vatican high court, the Apostolic Signatura.
Burke drew attention in the U.S. in 2004 when he said he would deny Communion to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, a Roman Catholic who supports abortion rights.
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From "Pope Francis removes former St. Louis Archbishop Burke from Congregation of Bishops" by Jesse Bogan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch 12/17/13
Some observers of the Roman Catholic Church said the move by Pope Francis is yet another example of his effort to tone down highly publicized stances on divisive social issues such as gay marriage, contraception and abortion, on which Burke has made strong remarks.
National Catholic Reporter journalist John Allen said in an email that the “face-value reading” of the changes was that Francis wants more moderate bishops, fewer who are “heavily invested in culture wars.”
In a blog post Monday after the news hit, [Religion News Service reporter David] Gibson described Burke as a “very conservative holdover from the Benedict XVI era and a fan of the kind of high liturgical finery that Pope Francis does not take to, at all.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Pope Replaces Conservative U.S. Cardinal on Influential Vatican Committee" by Jim Yardley And Jason Horowitz, New York Times 12/16/13
The pope’s decision to remove Cardinal Raymond L. Burke from the Congregation for Bishops was taken by church experts to be a signal that Francis is willing to disrupt the Vatican establishment in order to be more inclusive.
“[The Pope] is saying that you don’t need to be a conservative to become a bishop,” said Alberto Melloni, the director of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Studies in Bologna, Italy, a liberal Catholic research institute. “He wants good bishops, regardless of how conservative or liberal they are.”
Cardinal Burke, who came to the Vatican in 2008 after serving as archbishop of St. Louis, is a favorite of many conservative Catholics in the United States for his upholding of church rites and traditions favored by Pope Benedict XVI. . . .
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Pro-life leaders shocked by removal of Cardinal Burke from important Vatican post" by John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews 12/16/13
Burke has been known for his outspoken championing of the high priority that Popes Benedict and John Paul II gave to the Church’s pro-life and pro-family teachings. He has especially been both praised and criticized for his frequent insistence that persistently pro-abortion Catholic politicians must be denied Holy Communion according to Canon law requirements which Cardinal Ratzinger, before he became pope, directed the US bishops to follow.
John Smeaton, President of the UK Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, told LifeSiteNews, "Cardinal Raymond Burke is a giant man of the Catholic Church and a fearless defender of unborn children, whom Mother Teresa rightly called the poorest of the poor.”
“While other leading churchmen downplay or dismiss the priority to be given to the right to life of babies before birth, billions of whom have been killed in recent years, Cardinal Burke stands strong and says such an attitude is wrong,” Smeaton added. “We need churchmen like Cardinal Burke to become bishops and so it's puzzling and disappointing to see him lost to the Congregation for Bishops which has the responsibility for appointing good bishops and to see other men appointed who don't have Cardinal Burke's clear commitment to the greatest human rights issue of the day and the gravest crisis facing the Catholic Church today.”
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From "Vatican Chief Justice: Pro-Abortion Kerry, Pelosi Shouldn't Receive Communion" by Michael W. Chapman, CNSNews.com 12/16/13
In an interview with EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo on Dec. 13, Cardinal Burke explained that it is necessary to protect the Sacrament, the Communion wafer offered at Masses, from “being profaned, being violated by someone receiving unworthily,” someone “who knows that he or she is unworthy and yet presumes to come forward and to take the Holy Eucharist.”
Cardinal Burke, whose official title is Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, or chief of the Vatican’s highest court, said, “I’ve thought about it because I’ve received very severe criticism, both at the time that I was insisting on applying the discipline and also in my writing and other situations. But I have to say that, I think about it again, the discipline itself, and it’s a consistent discipline from the time of St. Paul, from the very first years of the Church, and it makes perfect sense.”
The cardinal continued, “The Holy Eucharist is the most sacred reality. It is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And I simply wouldn’t approach to receive Holy Communion if I was in a state of sin, and neither would I give Holy Communion to someone who I knew was in a state of sin.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Liberal Media Say Pope Francis OKs Gay & Women Priests
