Who is Raymond Burke, the critical cardinal who will be evicted from his residence by Pope Francis

He Pope Francisco will evict the ultra-conservative American Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of the most critical of the Supreme Pontiff, from the subsidized apartment of more than 400 square meters in the Vatican. He will also reduce the salary he receives. This is the second action of this type against a conservative prelate of USA so far in November.

According to the AP agency, last week, during a meeting with heads of the dicasteries (Vatican ministries), Francisco He said he was against Burke because this It was a source of “disunity” in the Church.

LOOK: The mysterious poisoning of Marianna Budanova, wife of the powerful head of Ukrainian intelligence

At that meeting, the Dad announced that it was removing the privileges of Burkeincluding having a subsidized apartment in the Vatican and a salary as a retired cardinal, which will be reduced. He argued that He was using those privileges against the Church.

The measure “is unprecedented in the era of Francis”declared to the BBC Christopher White, a Vatican watcher who writes for the National Catholic Reporter.

The EFE agency spoke about the topic with Austen IvereighBritish journalist, writer, professor of contemporary history at the University of Oxford, and author of The Great Reformer, very close to the Dad. He explained that Francisco He told him about this decision during a brief meeting at the Vaticanalthough he wanted to clarify that the Dad He never called the cardinal an “enemy,” as some media outlets pointed out.

“I never used the word ‘enemy’ or the pronoun ‘my.’ I simply announced it at the meeting of the heads of the dicasteries, without giving specific explanations,” was the response that the Dad he gave to Ivereigh, as he explained to EFE.

Burke, 75, has not reacted publicly to the decision of the Dadbut, as EFE indicates, in the periodic bulletin he writes dedicated to the faithful he stated, without mentioning any specific fact, that “confusion, division and error have even entered the Church”.

At the beginning of November, the Pope Francisco deposed the bishop of Tyler, Texas, Joseph Strickland, another conservative who had also become one of the critics of the Church leader. He removed it after an investigation by the Vatican about the government of his diocese.

Strickland has attacked the Pope’s attempts to update the Church’s position on social and inclusion issues, including the abortion, the transgender rights and the same-sex marriagereviewed BBC World.

In a tweet posted on Tuesday, Strickland expressed surprise at reports that Francisco had taken action against his compatriot Burke.

“If this is true, it is an atrocity that we must oppose. “If this is false information, it must be corrected immediately,” he said. Strickland.

Who is Raymond Burke?

He Pope Benedict XVI appointed cardinal Raymond Burke in 2010, after having appointed him prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s highest court.

In 2014, Raymond Burkewho is a canon lawyer, was removed by Francisco from his position as judge of the Vatican Supreme Courtaccording to AP.

He has also been an emeritus patron of the Order of Malta and currently does not have any position in the Vatican Curia.

The EFE agency indicated that despite this, It has an apartment located a few meters from San Pedro Square of more than 400 square meters. and, as Ivereigh reveals, he has continued to charge a Vatican salary of between 5,000 and 6,000 euros per month.

Today Burke He is one of the most outspoken critics of the Dad for its approach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and his reform project to make the Church more receptive to the needs of ordinary faithful.

AP recalled that on two occasions, Burke joined other conservative cardinals in asking formal questions to the Pontiffknown as “dubia” (doubts), asking him to clarify questions of doctrine that bother conservatives and traditionalists.

In the first, They asked Francis to clarify his approach to divorced Catholics and remarried civilly. Francisco never responded.

In a second, They asked if same-sex couples could receive blessings from the churchand received a conditional maybe in response, AP said.

In October of this year, one day before the Synod, Burke led a kind of countersynodtitled “The Synodal Babel”, a few steps from St. Peter’s Square, where he delivered a harsh criticism of the vision of Francisco on “synodality,” as well as his general reform project for the church.

“Unfortunately, it is very clear that the invocation of the Holy Spirit by some is intended to present an agenda that is more political and human than ecclesiastical and divine,” he said. Burke in “The Synodal Babel”.

Burke had already participated years ago in another letter with doubts sent to the Dad after the publication of the apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia”.

Besides, Burke He also disagreed that the Pope Francisco promote vaccines against covid-19.

During a statement to the press in 2021, Francisco lamented the “deniers” of vaccines in the College of Cardinalsin apparent reference to Burkewho had just been hospitalized in the United States and connected to a ventilator due to a serious attack of the virus, AP reported.

Raymond Burke He has defended his actions, ensuring that it is a service to the Church and the papacy. He has argued that it is his obligation as a cardinal and bishop to defend the Church’s teachings and correct errors.

“The sheep depend on the courage of the shepherds who must protect them from the poison of confusion, error and division,” he said on October 3.