Raymond Cardinal Burke is one of many clerics speaking out against the Relatio, go here to read all about it, at the Synod on the Family:
Cardinal Burke responded late yesterday to questions from Carl E. Olson, editor of Catholic World Report, about his concerns, his view of the mid-term report, and why he thinks a statement from Pope Francis is “long overdue”.
CWR: In what way is information about what is happening in the Synod being either manipulated or only partially reported and made public?
Cardinal Burke: The interventions of the individual Synod Fathers are not made available to the public, as has been the case in the past. All of the information regarding the Synod is controlled by the General Secretariat of the Synod which clearly has favored from the beginning the positions expressed in the Relatio post disceptationem of yesterday morning.
While the individual interventions of the Synod Fathers are not published, yesterday’s Relatio, which is merely a discussion document, was published immediately and, I am told, even broadcast live. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to see the approach at work, which is certainly not of the Church.
CWR: How is that reflected in the Synod’s midterm document, released yesterday, which is being criticised by many for its appeal to a so-called “law of graduality”?
Cardinal Burke: While the document in question (Relatio post disceptationem) purports to report only the discussion which took place among the Synod Fathers, it, in fact, advances positions which many Synod Fathers do not accept and, I would say, as faithful shepherds of the flock cannot accept. Clearly, the response to the document in the discussion which immediately followed its presentation manifested that a great number of the Synod Fathers found it objectionable.
The document lacks a solid foundation in the Sacred Scriptures and the Magisterium. In a matter on which the Church has a very rich and clear teaching, it gives the impression of inventing a totally new, what one Synod Father called “revolutionary”, teaching on marriage and the family. It invokes repeatedly and in a confused manner principles which are not defined, for example, the law of graduality.
CWR: How important is it, do you think, that Pope Francis make a statement soon in order to address the growing sense—among many in the media and in the pews—that the Church is on the cusp of changing her teaching on various essential points regarding marriage, “remarriage,” reception of Communion, and even the place of “unions” among homosexuals?
Cardinal Burke: In my judgment, such a statement is long overdue. The debate on these questions has been going forward now for almost nine months, especially in the secular media but also through the speeches and interviews of Cardinal Walter Kasper and others who support his position.
The faithful and their good shepherds are looking to the Vicar of Christ for the confirmation of the Catholic faith and practice regarding marriage which is the first cell of the life of the Church.
Go here to Catholic World Report to read the rest. Now I am confused. Mark Shea tells us that all is well. A Prince of the Church tells us that is not the case. Who to believe, who to believe.
Hmmm, seems to me that Cardinal Burke is increasingly looking like Thomas More and Francis like Henry VIII.
God will protect the Church. He may do that in ways that Pope Francis will not like.
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🙁
“Hmmm, seems to me that Cardinal Burke is increasingly looking like Thomas More and Francis like Henry VIII.”
With certain Catholic bloggers playing the role of Cromwell?
“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to loose.” Thank you Pope Francis for freeing the “Good” Cardinal.
…Or perhaps Cardinal Burke is St. Athanasius and Pope Francis is Constantius II.
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This Pope pays lip service to collegiality whilst ham-handedly manipulating the
synod to achieve his predetermined end. What is going on in Rome looks to be
kabuki theater designed to put a veneer of respectability on something Francis
decided for long ago. The Pope is the supreme legislator of the Church, and
could simply issue whatever ukase he wished on his own authority. Instead,
he’s orchestrating a politburo meeting masquerading as a synod. It’s deeply
cynical and manipulative.
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When this Pope was first elected, I was shocked by the negative reactions to him
I read in blogs like Rorate Caeli. I remember arguing that those people
were mistaken, that they were unreasonable and rushing to judgement. To
those people who called him out from the get go, I’d like to say that they were
right and I was wrong– he is as bad as all that.
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It makes me queasy to think of a Pope as some sort of Uriah Heep, constantly
announcing how ” ‘umble” he is while going about an underhanded agenda.
To my surprise and shame, I find myself praying not for his intentions, but
that God will either change his heart– or still it.
“With certain Catholic bloggers playing the role of Cromwell?”
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I’m going to go out on a limb and say that, sometime before next year’s Ordinary Synod, some blogging luminary among the usual apologists will actually go after the “reactionary” Cardinal Burke.
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Oh, they’ll couch it in tones of “disappointment” or some such B.S., but the result will be “Why can’t Burke just shut up and get with Pope Francis’ program of ‘mercy’?”
After having read portions of the document “Relatio”, I thought maybe the title was misspelled.
Yes that “reactionary” Burke is already called a “hardliner”. Anybody who is just a regular Catholic is now a hardliner.
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Who really thinks encouraging people in a lifestyle deadly to their body and soul is a “more merciful approach”? ???
@c matt Oh! That WAS an “R”! … never mind …
Barbara, you are so right. We know who the author of this type of confusion is. It just that Catholics have been brainwashed to think that he does not exist.