Exile of Cardinal Burke Draws Nearer with "Rescriptum"

Cardinal Burke at the Requiem for All Souls
on November, 3rd 2014 in Vienna

(Rome) Cardinal Raymond Burke has played the role of the visible counterpart to the reigning Pope since the Synod of Bishops. Which was for many years until his death in 2012, under very different circumstances, played by the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, from the Jesuit Order, against Popes John Paul, and Benedict XVI. Burke accused the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops of "manipulation" of Pope Francis having done "great damage"  and described the controversial interim report of the Synod as a "betrayal". The Vatican expert Sandro Magister sees his removal from the Roman Curia by Pope Francis move closer and references   the published   Rescriptum of two days ago. 

A few days after the end of the Synod of Bishops Cardinal Burke celebrated Pontifical Mass in St. Peter's Basilica for a Third International Pilgrimage of Tradition. Among the Catholics present,  a mood was visible, which brought an American pilgrim to exclaim "Burke for Pope."  No one would express it publicly, because it has no place in the church and twhich is superior to personal desires, yet the hopeful wish was heard everywhere personal discussions.

It was no different in Vienna, where the Cardinal celebrated a Pontifical Mass on November 4, under the patronage of Saint Charles Borromeo in the famous Karlskirche. The church was filled up to the margins  with many young believers and young families. In his homily, he called on the holy patron, who presented the Council of Trent, as a model for Church leaders, but also for believers today.

Church Renewal Begins by Addressing Errors

Saint Charles Borromeo renewed the Church after the "attacks of the Reformation", first in Rome and then in the time in his home  Archdiocese of Milan. Of great personal piety and charity for the poor, which led him to care personally for the victims of the plague, he died at the age of only 46 years. The saint had asked at the beginning, said Cardinal Burke, where to start the renewal of the Church and so he came to the conclusion that this must be to fight of errors. Only the maintenance and dissemination of the teachings of Jesus Christ can bear real fruit. Likewise, he realized that the only way to salvation is the way of the cross. In this sense, the cardinal opens a bridge from present time  where great confusion prevails "in the world and in the Church."

In Vienna, the Cardinal had been refused by the abbot of the Augustinian Canons of Klosterneuburg  for the celebration of a Votive Mass in honor of the Apostles Peter and Paul in the Old Rite in a Viennese parish church to which he had invited to the Stift incorporated parish.  It was an unparalleled  affront that did not prevent the cardinal from indirectly receiving the recommendation of Austria's Church and bishops in the Karlskirche. 

Meanwhile it seems the punitive action by Pope Francis, who apparently cherishes a personal dislike of the traditional Cardinal, draws closer. Cardinal Burke, who, after reading of the Evangelii gaudium , the single document of Pope Francis,  which is to the date the only  document with a formal doctrinal claim from him, explained that everything could be possible of the document, but it was certainly not an expression of papal magisterium. A criticism that the unforgiving pope from Argentina seems unwilling to forgive.

Deportation of the Cardinal to be Patron of the Order of Malta?

Even before the Synod of Bishops there were rumors that the Pope would withdraw Cardinal Burke from the Apostolic Signatura and  shift him to a nominally prestigious post outside the Roman Curia in the Vatican. After removal from multiple Congregations, in which Burke was member, this would mean the exclusion of any direct influence on the Church leadership.

In case the rumor was thought to be an attempt at intimidation before the Synod, it certainly went wrong. Cardinal Burke was not intimidated, but became a spokesman for the defense of the marriage sacrament and the Church's moral teaching.

The published November 5 Rescriptum ex audientia Sanctissimi of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin intensified Pope Francis dismissals for the heads of dicasteries, diocesan bishops and all officers papal appointment.

Rescriptum Provides an Opportunity for Further Extensive Reshuffle

With the new rules  all over 75 officials, including cardinals, if they head no dicastery, are obliged to offer their resignations. So far, these honorary positions  are not subject to limitation in time and were theoretically for life. Among the cardinals who must offer their resignation due to the new provision, include not only the Archpriest Patriarchs are the American, Edwin Frederick O'Brien Cardinal (born 1939), President Cardinal Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Italian Paolo Cardinal Sardi (born 1934), Cardinal Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Cardinal Burke, although at the age of 66, one of the youngest cardinals of the Church, could be deported to so recently vacated  post of cardinal patron of the Order of Malta, says the Vatican expert Sandro Magister, reflecting the corresponding, more expectant voices in Rome.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Una Voce Austria

Trans: vekron99@hotmail.com

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