Yet Burke stayed on as the “pope’s judge,” not least because he was seen by many as the most able man for the job. Meanwhile, Vatican watchers noted that he was the most senior figure to keep his position but not be confirmed in it by Pope Francis. Even Cardinal Burke’s enemies — and he has many, and they are all ideological — admit that he is exceptional in that he has never evinced ambition for higher office. But Francis brooks no opposition, so Burke had to go.
His crimes? Burke upholds traditional Biblical teaching on marriage and encourages devotion to the traditional Latin Mass. He is regularly seen in different countries celebrating a liturgy that Francis regards as a relic of the past, although the churches where these Masses are celebrated are usually filled with large young families, and they produce a wealth of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. (Buenos Aires was known to have hardly any vocations in the seminary during the time that Jorge Mario Bergoglio was archbishop.) But perhaps Cardinal Burke’s most glaring offense was that he declared that Catholic politicians who support abortion should be refused Communion.
Interesting analysis, not so much about Burke, but about Francis.
Francis is a typical liberal. They’re vindictive, petty and love to settle (real or imagined) scores. One point the author made that I have noticed myself is that Bergoglio’s court is like the Vatican II geezers’ club.
Many of the people around him are actually already retired (over 80) and are people who finally think they have a shot at getting the power they felt was denied them under the two recent popes. We’ll leave aside the fact that they should actually have been removed by the two preceding popes, one of whom actually appointed many of them, after they had destroyed their own archdioceses, left them with no vocations and hardly any practicing Catholics.
That doesn’t seem to matter to Pope Francis because their ideological purity is beyond dispute. So he’s kicking out younger people and moving the oldsters back into power, even if they can’t officially hold it because they’re too old - in that case, he lets them pick the worst of a slightly younger crop to replace them (as bishops or whatever).
I go to Spain a lot and Spaniards are much more cynical about this, because people in Catholic countries (basically, Italy, Spain and France) have been watching Popes for millennia and are not the quasi-ultramontanists that a lot of Americans and other English speaking people are.
As for the Germans, they were Christianized late, and it’s always been a little touch and go with them, because they felt that they should have the power. This seems to be a German affliction.
Kasper is having his moment of glory, and one of the things he wants is for the German bishops (with no parishioners but lots of mandatory financial support) to basically be able to ignore Rome and do whatever they want. And I think they’ve finally found the foolish Pope who will let them do so, because they’re leftists and so is he.
I can't see that what Jesus intended for His church and the leadership in it was meant to be what we have been seeing here with the pope and the Catholic church.