VATICAN CITY
Irish Examiner
Friday, January 13, 2017
Four powerful cardinals have already gone public with their doubts about the current pope, while some have virtually accused him of heresy, writes TP O’Mahony
IN A move that is unprecedented in the modern history of the Papacy, four cardinals have publicly challenged Pope Francis. In the words of his biographer, Paul Vallely, the four “have published ‘doubts’, virtually accusing him of heresy”.
The four are Cardinal Raymond Burke (USA), Cardinal Carlo Caffarra (former Archbishop of Bologna), Cardinal Joacim Meisner (former Archbishop of Cologne), and Cardinal Walter Brandmuller (Germany), former president of the Pontifical Commission for Historical Sciences.
Cardinal Burke has been a persistent critic of Pope Francis, and two years ago was removed from his position as head of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura (the Church’s Supreme Court) for refusing to implement changes to procedures for annulments which has been sanctioned by the Pope. A former Archbishop of Archdiocese of St Louis, he now serves as patron of the Order of Malta.
The very public expression of opposition by these four senior churchmen to the Pope has no parallel in the history of the modern Papacy, and means, in the words of Clifford Longley, editorial adviser to the English Catholic weekly The Tablet, that “Pope Francis has a mutiny of his hands”.
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