Begone and belt up, Cardinal Burke!, by Barry Duke, Freethinker (October 19, 2014)

Begone and belt up, Cardinal Burke!

By Barry Duke
Freethinker
October 19, 2014

http://freethinker.co.uk/2014/10/18/begone-and-belt-up-cardinal-burke/

Just days after mouthing idiotic remarks about gays, Cardinal Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, has been demoted.

Burke is moving from the Church’s chief guardian of canon law to a minor post as patron to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Clearly peeved over the the direction a worldwide meeting of Church leaders is taking, Burke said yesterday that – with the apparent blessing of Pope Francis – the RCC is being “weakened”.

An interim report of the discussions released on Monday, called the Relatio, produced a widespread backlash among conservative bishops who said it suggested a radical change to the Church’s teaching on questions like divorce and homosexuality, and Burke has been among the most publicly critical of the bishops picked by Pope Francis to lead the discussion.

“Relatio?, the Cardinal angrily ejaculated, “more like bloody fellatio!”

Just kidding …

What he did say is that if Pope Francis had selected certain cardinals to steer the meeting to advance his personal views on matters like divorce and the treatment of LGBT people he would not be observing his mandate as the leader of the Catholic Church.

Burke said that Francis had “done a lot of harm” by not stating “openly what his position is.” He added that the Pope had given the impression that he endorses some of the most controversial parts of the Relatio, especially on questions of divorce.

The Pope, more than anyone else as the pastor of the universal church, is bound to serve the truth. The Pope is not free to change the Church’s teachings with regard to the immorality of homosexual acts or the insolubility of marriage or any other doctrine of the faith.

Putting a brave face on his demotion, Burke said:

I very much have enjoyed and have been happy to give this service, so it is a disappointment to leave it. On the other hand, in the Church as priests, we always have to be ready to accept whatever assignment we’re given. And so I trust, by accepting this assignment, that God will bless me, and that’s what’s in the end most important.