Pope Francis seems to be fed up with the ultra-conservative opposition to his pontificate and has begun to take matters into his own hands. After removing a Texas bishop known for being a vocal critic of the Pontiff, he has now punished, without Vatican privileges, the American Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, one of his most important detractors. The Pope has withdrawn the salary he earned as a retired cardinal, at 75 years old, and also the apartment paid for by the Vatican, although he spends long periods of time in his native Wisconsin.
This was communicated by Francis himself during a meeting of heads of Vatican departments on November 20. According to the Reuters agency, a participant in this meeting said that the Pontiff motivated his decision by saying that Burke was a source of “disunity” in the Church and “was working against the Church and against the papacy” with the privileges of the Vatican. For the moment, the Holy See has neither confirmed nor denied this information. The salaries of the cardinals are not public, but they are between 4,000 and 5,000 euros per month, depending on the bonuses for positions accumulated over the years in the Vatican, and Burke was president of the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
Over the years, Francis has amassed a minority – but vocal – opposition of traditionalist cardinals and bishops who do not accept either his reforms in the Vatican or his openings to the LGTBI sector or women, among other things. And in all the clashes carried out by these anti-pope ranks, the name of Raymond L. Burke has always been found, a hero for ultraconservatives in the US and who enjoys a certain popularity in Italy.
The cardinal, a fervent defender of Benedict XVI's legacy, became known for denying communion to John Kerry during his presidential campaign in 2004. For years he has used ultra-conservative media platforms to carry out a campaign of statements against the Pope, and not only that. Burke openly declared war on Bergoglio in 2016, when the Argentine pope made public his exhortation Amoris Laetitita, one of the greatest documents of this pontificate. Then, the American and three other cardinals sent the famous letter of dubia (doubts) to ask the Pope to correct the episode in which he opened the door for some divorced and remarried people to take communion again. Bergoglio did not receive them, something that fueled his anger. In 2018, Burke also turned his back on Francis again by supporting the former nuncio to the United States, Carlo Mario Viganò, who unleashed an enormous Vatican storm by accusing the Pontiff without evidence of knowing about the abuses of former American cardinal Theodore McCarrick. That same year he led a summit of ultra-Catholic cardinals to encourage disobedience to the Pope as a "heretic."
The latest move by Burke, who defines himself as a defender of Catholic doctrine and papal traditions, took place recently, when he once again led another letter of dubia before the Synod of bishops on synodality that began in October in the Vatican – the second session will take place next year – and which addressed thorny issues for the Holy See such as welcoming the LGTBI sector or how to give a greater role to women in the Church. In this document they questioned some of these debate topics, such as blessings for homosexual couples or the idea of a Church open to collaboration, because they feared that this could go against the “supreme papal authority.” The same American cardinal assured that we must fight against the “poison of confusion, error and division” that in his opinion this assembly could create.
This same month, Francis removed the bishop of Tyler, a small diocese in Texas, Joseph E. Strickland, an admirer of Donald Trump who had long used social media to rant against Francis. At the beginning of the year, the Vatican opened an investigation into the Tyler diocese, and Strickland said that he did not plan to leave if the Pope did not fire him, something that finally happened on the recommendation of those in charge of the investigation. In August, the Pope already regretted that a “reactionary” sector of the North American Church opted for politics instead of religion.
Another case, although very different, is that of Benedict XVI's historic private secretary, Georg Gänswein, who was sent back in June to his diocese of origin in Germany without giving him any position. Since Ratzinger's death, rumors have been circulating about his future, especially after he published a book highly critical of Francis.
