Posted on 07/17/2026 6:55:15 AM PDT by ebb tide
In a wide-ranging interview after Pope Leo XIV’s second extraordinary consistory of cardinals held June 26-27, Cardinal Raymond Burke delivered a forceful critique of the Vatican’s ongoing emphasis on synodality, calling for it to be halted and subjected to rigorous study.
“We have to insist that this whole synodality business stop,” the cardinal declared. “And there be a very serious study done of the whole matter because we’re talking about the very life of the Church and we’re talking about the salvation of souls.”
Speaking to The College of Cardinals Report on June 28 but released Wednesday, Burke began with a note of appreciation for the gathering convened by the new pontiff. “The Cardinals are certainly all grateful that the Pope convenes us again, which hadn’t happened for so many years during the pontificate of Pope Francis,” he said. “The Cardinals are speaking more with one another. We’re getting to know each other more and that’s a very great fruit.”
Yet he quickly pivoted to fundamental concerns about the consistory’s structure. Participants were instructed that the meeting “has now to be conformed to synodality.” This meant abandoning the traditional open debate among cardinals in favor of small tables following preset questions. “Each one comments and, to me, we don’t get to the heart of matters in depth.”
Reports reflected only points of consensus, Burke explained. “The reports are only … of what every Cardinal agreed upon. And so, a Cardinal brings up something that maybe others didn’t agree with. But it could be very true and important for the Pope to hear. That doesn’t get reported to him.”
No definition to ‘synodality,’ and ‘no history of it in the Church’
The final session returned to the classic format with free interventions in the Pope’s presence. “To me, that was the most productive session of the consistory,” Burke noted. He described the overall process as “very controlled,” with presidents and secretaries of each small group apparently being preselected rather than chosen by the groups themselves.
At the core of Burke’s objection is the lack of theological grounding for synodality. “There is no definition of synodality. There’s no history of it in the Church,” he stated emphatically.
One cardinal highlighted the “synchronic” contemporary focus versus the missing “diachronic” historical dimension. Burke warned of the danger: “It’s one thing for the Church to address the world, but it’s another thing if the Church is conforming itself to the world, to a worldly way of thinking. And there is this whole discourse about ‘change of paradigm.’ They keep invoking that, that there’s been a paradigm shift. Well, the Church doesn’t have paradigm shifts. The Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic.”
In his own intervention, Burke targeted Synod Study Group 9’s report on doctrine and morals, particularly its treatment of the “homosexual condition.” He argued it “calls into question what the Church has always taught about sexual morality."
The report, he said, included testimony falsely accusing the Courage apostolate — which he has supported since the 1980s — of shortcomings that Burke called “simply not the case.”
“How in the world could the Church, in a report given out throughout the Church, not check to see if what that witness … said about Courage was true, but they didn’t,” he admonished.
READ: Courage International calls Vatican’s pro-LGBT synodal report ‘both calumny and detraction’
The native priest and bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, instead stressed objective truth, stating “the truth is about the nature of things and their proper ends, and not about inclinations that I have, or desires, or projects that I have” which are “very subjective” and can therefore be impacted by original sin.
Under such conditions one has the temptation to “reconform the teaching of the Church” to their own desires or inclinations, the cardinal warned. Yet all of us “find our happiness” in understanding “the truth about ourselves and about the world and about our proper finality.”
Burke expressed alarm that the report has already emboldened “even bishops (and) archbishops” to encourage “the LGBTQ+ agenda, saying, ‘look, the Church is changing its teaching.’”
Burke labeled plans to circulate the study groups’ suggestions to dioceses as “iniquitous. That should not happen.” The process, he insisted, “has to be stopped, and it has to be completely studied and reoriented so that” it remains “completely faithful to what the Church teaches and to the holiness of the Church’s life.”
Internal Church issues received insufficient attention amid discussions of the “wounds of the world.” Burke highlighted the impending Society of St. Pius X episcopal consecrations as a looming schismatic act carrying automatic excommunication, noting the need for pastoral provisions like those of St. John Paul II in 1988.
He also decried Traditionis Custodes as “really a persecution of the Traditional Latin Mass,” confirming that “there can be no question in anybody’s mind, and Pope Benedict XVI made it so clear: (the vetus ordo) is an eternal good in the Church, a form of the Roman Rite that was celebrated for more than 15 centuries. And it’s simply so beautiful and the faithful are nourished spiritually by this form of the Latin Rite. This should be allowed freely.”
He additionally advocated for a dedicated dicastery to support these faithful communities, known for their large families and commitment to handing on the faith.
Burke observed that topics such as the German bishops’ situation, the SSPX crisis, and the Traditional Latin Mass were largely sidelined, with the “homosexual lobby in the Church” not discussed at all either. He reminded listeners that a consistory is meant for candid advice to the Pope, unlike a synod.
Despite these concerns, Cardinal Burke voiced confidence in divine protection: “I’m confident Our Lord will protect the Church, but we have to do our part to say, ‘no, this concept of synodality … is fundamentally flawed.’”
He urged a path of wisdom and courage, concluding, “Our Lord is always head of his Church. And we stay with him and we don’t go off in other directions because we’re unhappy with the way things are in the Church,” understanding “that he will make it all right.”
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‘This is a canonical mess’: Fr. Murray explains why SSPX priests, laity are not excommunicated
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"The salvation of souls" - What a novel idea! The sin-nodal "church" should take it under consideration, instead of just listening, dialoguing, accompanying, and discerning.
Ping
Interesting. So there ARE other solutions besides schism.
This article had absolutely nothing to do with the SSPX, yet you still bring them up.
I’m delighted that they are living in your hateful mind.
Did you read the article about the Catholic Pharisees? You’ll see yourself in it.
I applaud the cardinal for not abandoning the Barque of Peter and jumping into the waters of schism. Why can't you follow his example, ET?
No crisis here!
Right, Captain Bob?
Don't kid yourself; the SSPX is in schism. Sleeping under your bed and ducking the fight with the rest of us in the arena isn't going to help you or the Church.
(Think about how all of your energy could be united with the Church and not mindlessly pi$$ed away with the schismatic Lefebvrists.)
Don't kid yourself; the SSPX is in schism. Sleeping under your bed and ducking the fight with the rest of us in the arena isn't going to help you or the Church.
(Think about how all of your energy could be united with the Church and not mindlessly pi$$ed away with the schismatic Lefebvrists.)
Where’s that formal correction of Pope Francis that Burke had promised nine years ago?
Toothless tigers are no guardians of the faith.
Neither are schismatics.
You don’t know the difference between schism and disobedience; neither does Tucho.
3 Contributors
The Heavenly Aeroplane Lyrics
The original lyrics for this Christian song (comparing Judgment Day and the Rapture to an airplane ride) date to the 1920s, and so Rutter arranges the song in the style of 1920s jazz. This arrangement has… Read More
One of these nights about twelve o’clock
The old world’s goin’ to reel and rock;
The sinners gonna tremble and cry for pain
And the Lord will come in His aeroplane
Ho, ye weary of ev’ry tribe
Get your ticket for an aeroplane ride
Jesus the Savior is coming to reign
And take you up to glory in His aeroplane
Talk about your joyrides in automobiles
Of lightning speed on your motor wheels;
We’ll break all records as up we’ll fly
On an aeroplane joyride thru the sky
Ho, ye weary of ev’ry tribe
Get your ticket for an aeroplane ride
Jesus the Savior is coming to reign
And take you up to glory in His aeroplane
You’ll have to get ready if you take this ride
Quit all your meanness and humble your pride;
You must furnish a light both bright and clean
And a vessel of oil to run the machine
Ho, ye weary of ev’ry tribe
Get your ticket for an aeroplane ride
Jesus the Savior is coming to reign
And take you up to glory in His aeroplane
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Traditional Transcriptions
Lose Yourself
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NLE Choppa, 41 & Kyle Richh
When our journey’s done and we all sit down
At the marriage feast, with a golden crown
We’ll blend our voices with the ransomed throng
And praise our Savior as the years roll on
Ho, ye weary of ev’ry tribe
Get your ticket for an aeroplane ride
Jesus the Savior is coming to reign
And take you up to glory in His aeroplane
Yeah!
The Church makes it clear for all of us; the SSPX is in schism.
Tucho is not the Church, not by a long shot.
The SSPX understands perfectly well that the excommunication comes from the Vatican, even if you spout something different here on FR.
This is why they are appealing the excommunication (yes, to Rome, no, not to Cardinal Fernandez), even as you go about telling everyone how it isn't real.
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