Posted on 09/16/2014 7:24:30 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
The possible demotion of Card. Burke. Wherein Fr. Z rants.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, I’ll post this. I do not like the fact that Sandro Magister posted in this way, however. I’ve been biting the inside of my mouth for a while now. The optimist in me was saying that the official announcement would not be made until after the Synod of Bishops, or at least the beginning of the Synod. Or at all.
It’s not good news. At the time of this writing, it is still – officially – a rumor. I believe it, however. I have been trying to get myself into a mental and spiritual place to see it for what it is and, more importantly, for what it is not, and to plot my own reaction and subsequent course.
Vatican Insider has posted that His Eminence Raymond Card. Burke will soon be demoted by Pope Francis from being Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura to the Patron of the Knights of Malta.
The move is not lateral. That position is usually entrusted to older Cardinals. The present Cardinal Patron is Card. Sardi, who is now 80. Before him was Pio Card. Laghi. The reassignment would be a demotion, for the Patron of the Knights is not nearly the equivalent of Prefect of a Roman dicastery.
I didn’t think that Card. Burke would be moved to Chicago, though I had a little fun with that idea. I thought he might be moved laterally to the Congregation for Causes of Saints to replace Card. Amato, who is over 75. More on Saints, below.
There are a few points to make here, before the trads blow arteries and quite simply die and before liberals and dissidents, who suffer from Burke Derangement Syndrome, start their Lord of the Flies Dance.
First, it is possible that the three Roman tribunals (Penitentiary, Signatura, Rota), might be collapsed into a single dicastery for justice. I don’t know how that would work. I think it would be a really bad idea, but they didn’t ask me. If that is the case, the Signatura and the Penitentiary will not both need a Cardinal.
Second, according to a couple sources I have heard from, there is talk of collapsing the Congregation for Causes of Saints back into Divine Worship where, historically, it once belonged. Once upon a time the powerful Sacred Congregation of Rites had the brief for beatification and canonization. That would eliminate another cardinalatial chair in the Curia.
Furthermore, there is talk of collapsing minor curial offices, Councils and the like, into a Congregation for Laity. That could eliminate several other Cardinals in the Curia.
If you eliminate a position that has required a Cardinal, and that Cardinal is not 75 or 80, that is, ready for retirement, the Pope has to do something with him. Burke is only 66. What can the Pope do if there are no longer enough cardinalatial slots in the curia because he plans on eliminating them? Well, you can send His Eminence off to be the bishop of some important see in his own country, right? What if the Pope can’t do that because the Cardinal’s own countrymen have been drenching the same Cardinal in contumely? Not enough curial chairs, not a good option back home? Don’t forget that the Archbishop Secretaries of eliminated offices have to go somewhere too! They might need those dioceses back in their native places.
So, what? You put the Cardinal in the best possible cardinalatial role you can find. Some Cardinals who hit 75 and are at the end of service in a Congregation, are still useful. They reside in Rome. They can be on other Congregations until they are 80. They could head up some office such as, once upon a time, the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”. That’s been put under the CDF. There are still, for example, Archpriests at the Major Basilicas. But, there’s already an American at St. Paul’s outside-the-walls: Card. Harvey, 64, also from Wisconsin, just like Card. Burke. Two Americans sexagenarian Cardinals from Wisconsin as Archpriests of Papal Basilicas at the same time? Not likely. I suspect that if Francis eliminates a few offices, such as Cor Unum or Justice and Peace or the like which have men who are still of service age, one of them will go, say, to be Archpriest at St. Mary Major, where the present man, Card. Abril y Castelló, is about to turn 79. An Italian could wind up as the Delegate for the Basilica of St. Francis where Card. Nicora, 77, is now.
It is fair to imagine that Pope Francis – certainly at the instigation of a few close advisers – is purging the Curia of his predecessor’s influence.
It is also fair to imagine that Francis is pairing down the number of Cardinals and offices in the Curia. It could be more about that than about Burke himself. It could be a purge of Cardinals and not just of Burke.
It could be about both. After all, Cardinals Piacenza and Cañizares were moved.
What I am wondering about is what might happen at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Will Card. Müller be moved out of the Curia to Berlin?
We could know more when and if Francis appoints Burke’s successor at an existing, unreformed Signatura.
NB: with the removal of Burke from the Signatura, there will be zero US Cardinals in the Roman Curia. Is it likely that that is what Pope Francis wants? No American Cardinals in the Roman Curia? That’s a pretty big and influential country to snub.
QUAERITUR: Is Francis opening up a slot into which he would move another American Cardinal from these USA? An American (or other) Cardinal into a key position for any reform of the tribunals who may agree with Card. Kasper’s views or be on side if it comes to trimming down the annulment process?
And then there is this.
This news has been leaked a couple weeks before the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops which will tackle, inter alia, the question of Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried. However, Card. Burke will surely be a participant in the Synod. Moreover, days before the Synod begins, a book will be released in five languages – in English by Ignatius Press HERE – in which Card. Burke has an essay (along with those of four other Cardinals) in defense of the Church’s traditional teaching and discipline. Card. Burke has been a leading figure in the holding position against the really bad ideas of Walter Card. Kasper, the “tolerate but don’t accept” position that the liberals and dissidents are swooning over. You will have noticed – or maybe not, for how many people read it, after all – that at Amerika Magazine, its 24/7 Kasperism.
“But Father! But Father!”, some of you are asking, “How could something like this take place? Why would this take place?” Others are saying “Hah hah Fr. Z! You hate Vatican II! Next we’re coming for you!”
In addition to the scenario of cutting back the curia I outlined, above, I think that Card. Burke’s enemies, both in these USA and in Rome – at least occasionally, got the upper hand when advising Pope Francis. It would be naïve in the extreme to think that there are lacking near Francis’s elbows those who have been sharpening their knives for Card. Burke and for anyone else associated closely with Pope Benedict.
This is millennial, clerical blood sport.
Sacerdos sacerdoti lupissimus.
No surprises here. The sun rises at dawn. Dog bites man.
Is there an upside to this? Sure there is!
If this happens – and it is still not official yet – Card. Burke will not have so much on his plate. He is still young enough to have a good store of energy. This move, if true, would mean that he would not be tethered to a desk full of nearly as much paperwork. He will have more time to write. He will have more opportunities to raise his voice and express his views. He is already pretty forthright as a Prefect. When he is off the leash, he will still act with the Romanitas and the gravitas of a Cardinal, but I’ll bet he’ll be even more vocal.
Another upside? He will probably retain his membership in the Congregations to which he belongs. Those appointments change from time to time. We shall see.
Remember, this is not official until it is formally announced. However, it seems likely.
I know Card. Burke a little. I know him well enough to know that he is a man is deep spiritual resources. He will be fine. Do, however, say a prayer for him regularly. Every Cardinal needs prayers! Imagine how the Enemy targets Cardinals, especially real defenders of tradition. It’s a terrifying prospect.
And then there’s this. This is the part I direct at YOU, dear readers.
Many of you will be tempted to have a spittle-flecked nutty of sorrow and panic about this, directly proportioned to the spittle-flecked nutty of giddiness and schadenfreude that the catholic Left are about to throw.
Many of you will be tempted to run in circles squawking about Francis the Disaster, the cross between a Jesuit and South American Dictator. At the same time the catholic Left will be running in the opposite direction squawking about Francis The Unjudgmental, the first and fluffiest Pope ever to smile or to kiss a baby, is just the most wonderfullest Pope ehvurrr. The Left will manifest their trademark venom. Remember what foaming paroxysms they had when Burke was not reappointed as a member of the Congregation of Bishops? When he was moved from St. Louis to Rome? Demotion! They cried! (Benedict moved him to Rome, by the way, not Francis, and it was a promotion.) So too with the Right! Francis says something that is – admittedly – strange or impenetrable and trads freak out.
We have to breathe deeply and try to see this for what it is and what it isn’t. And to continue the respiratory metaphor, some of us – I include myself – are going to have to hold our noses and swallow this bitter dose as if it had all the asafoetida that Dr. Maturin was accustomed to add to his draughts. [That's a Patrick O'Brian reference.]
Every pontificate has its good days and its bad days. Which it ain’t always beer and skittles, is it, as Preserved Killick would put it? [That's another.]
There are many factors to consider in this move, consideration of which should take us beyond a simple and facile assumption that this is part of a Franciscan Night of the Long Knives.
VATICAN CITY, September 17, 2014 – The “revolution” of Pope Francis in ecclesiastical governance is not losing its driving thrust. And so, as happens in every self-respecting revolution, the heads continue to roll for churchmen seen as deserving this metaphorical guillotine.In his first months as bishop of Rome, pope Bergoglio immediately provided for the transfer to lower-ranking positions of three prominent curial figures: Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, Archbishop Guido Pozzo, and Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca, considered for their theological and liturgical sensibilities among the most “Ratzingerian” of the Roman curia.Another whose fate appears to be sealed is the Spanish archbishop of Opus Dei Celso Morga Iruzubieta, secretary of the congregation for the clergy, destined to leave Rome for an Iberian diocese not of the first rank.But now an even more eminent decapitation seems to be on the way.The next victim would in fact be the United States cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, who from being prefect of the supreme tribunal of the apostolic signatura would not be promoted - as some are fantasizing in the blogosphere - to the difficult but prestigious see of Chicago, but rather demoted to the pompous - but ecclesiastically very modest - title of “cardinal patron” of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, replacing the current head, Paolo Sardi, who recently turned 80.If confirmed, Burke’s exile would be even more drastic than the one inflicted on Cardinal Piacenza, who, transferred from the important congregation for the clergy to the marginal apostolic penitentiary, nevertheless remained in the leadership of a curial dicastery.With the shakeup on the way, Burke would instead be completely removed from the curia and employed in a purely honorary position without any influence on the governance of the universal Church.This would be a move that seems to have no precedent.
In the past, in fact, the title of “cardinalis patronus” of the knights of Malta, in existence since 1961, like the previous one of Grand Prior of Rome, has always been assigned to the highest ranking cardinals as an extra position in addition to the main one.
This is what was done with cardinals Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro (appointed Grand Prior in 1896 while remaining secretary of state), Gaetano Bisleti (at the same time prefect of the congregation for Catholic education), Gennaro Granito Pignatelli (cardinal dean and bishop of Albano), Nicola Canali (governor of Vatican City), Paolo Giobbe (leader of the apostolic dataria), Paul-Pierre Philippe (until the age of 75 also prefect of the congregation for the Oriental Churches), Sebastiano Baggio (removed from the congregation for bishops but kept on as governor of Vatican City and camerlengo), Pio Laghi (until the age of 77 also prefect of the congregation for Catholic education).
Two separate cases are those of Cardinal Giacomo Violardo, who succeeded the 89-year-old Giobbe as patron at the age of 71, two months after receiving the scarlet at the end of long service in the curia, and of the outgoing Sardi, appointed pro-patron in 2009 at the age of 75 and made cardinal in 2010 after having been for many years the head of the office that writes pontifical documents.
Above all, Sardi’s retirement would not be a compulsory act, since the age limit of 80 does not apply to positions outside of the curia. And in fact, with the exception of Paulo Giobbe, all of the aforementioned cardinal patrons went on to a better life “durante munere.”
Burke is 66 years old, and therefore still in his ecclesiastical prime. Ordained a priest by Paul VI in 1975, he worked at the apostolic signatura as an ordinary priest with John Paul II, who made him bishop of his native diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1993. It was again pope Karol Wojtyla who in 2003 promoted him as archbishop of the prestigious see, once cardinalate, of St. Louis, Missouri. Benedict XVI called him back to Rome in 2008, and made him a cardinal in 2010.
With a very devout personality, he is also recognized as having the rare virtue of never having struck any deals to obtain ecclesiastical promotions or benefices. [Source, in English]
"It is a decision by the Supreme [Federal Court, the highest Constitutional Court in Brazil]. Of course, for the Church, it [homosexual union] cannot be equated to marriage, that is different. But, regarding respect for the stable union between these people, there is no doubt that the Church has always [sempre] been trying to do it this way", said Damasceno Assis
It’s like post office patronage jobs and such used to be here. When your boy is voted out and the other party’s man gets in, you just lost your position. Politics.
Except that Cardinal Burke was of the party of Pope Benedict XVI, whose party is orthodoxy, while the new party is heterodoxy.
Pray this is not so, ping!
PFL
His most trusted American Cardinals are the three most wicked ones: Wuerl, Dolan, and O’Malley. And I mean wicked. They are pro-abortion, pro-gay, and personally corrupt. Francis is either one of them, or is a wretched judge of character.
If he is a wretched judge of character, he would not be the first recent Pope with this defect.
In my opinion Wuerl is the most despicable, with Dolan a close second.
Have you forgotten that Mahoney is still under 80, or do you have a higher opinion of him than I?
Yet, Jimmy Akins and Catholic Answers wants us to believe that the biggest evil in the Church today is Bishop Fellay and the SSPX.
Mahony is no longer an ordinary. He’s still evil, but he doesn’t matter much. Gomez is a cipher. He talked big when the damning documents came out, and then folded. And Gomez loves to fawn over pro-abortion politicians just as much as Mahony.
Mahoney. Patron of pedophiles
Wuerl is certainly the most smarmy. And he’s a notorious, predatory homosexual. Dolan is certainly pro-gay publicly, whatever he is in private. O’Malley, of Kennedy canonization fame, is the one closest to the Pope, reportedly.
Francis is the worst Pope since Paul VI, who was the worst Pope in about 400 years.
Benedict is the only Pope in the last fifty years who has made any effort to avoid appointing vile enemies of the Church.
People make endless excuses. The Pope is a prisoner of the system. People lie to him. Every Pope has had, at the very least, the WANDERER to read, to tell him which bishops were destroying their dioceses. Weakland wrote about how he would be confronted with a heap of complaint letters, and would be scolded at length every time he visited the Vatican.
I can’t *wait* to hear Michael Voris’ take. /s
That will be interesting. And telling.
More on the possible “demotion” of Cardinal Burke. This is a good read from Fr. Z.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Cardinal Burke was a big supporter of Voris’ media apostolate. Maybe this will open Voris’ eyes about the true nature of this Pontificate. I was just on the phone with a friend who is a close friend of Cardinal Burke. There’s just no way to spin this demotion and personal insult to Cardinal Burke in a positive light.
Satan is certainly busy in the Church. For those of is who are recent converts, it is nauseating, horrifying, grief-inducing, exhausting. I keep reminding myself that even if precisely this disgusting form of corruption was not what infected the Church in the past, there was always some attack, some evil, some great challenge to faith that believers had to deal with, either from without or from within; and there were weak or wicked popes in the past as well. These facts and attacks do not alter the fundamentals of the Faith, however, and we must cling to these.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
What parallels / contrasts does this demotion offer vis-à-vis Cardinal Law's move from Boston to the Vatican back in 2002? At the time, various apologists defined Law's move as a demotion (i.e. "being able to keep a better eye on him"), but Burke's is notably different.
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