VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service
By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis removed U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, 66, as head of the Vatican’s highest court and named him to a largely ceremonial post for a chivalric religious order.
Cardinal Burke, formerly prefect of the Apostolic Signature, will now serve as cardinal patron of the Knights and Dames of Malta, the Vatican announced Nov. 8.
Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, then-prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, leaves the concluding session of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican Oct. 18. (CNS/Paul Haring)
The move had been widely expected since an Italian journalist reported it in September, and the cardinal himself confirmed it to reporters the following month.
It is highly unusual for a pope to remove an official of Cardinal Burke’s stature and age without assigning him comparable responsibilities elsewhere. By church law, cardinals in the Vatican must offer to resign at 75, but often continue in office for several more years. As usual when announcing personnel changes other than retirements for reasons of age, the Vatican did not give a reason for the cardinal’s reassignment.
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