Pope Francis comments publicly on Cardinal Burke situation

Pope Francis has denied that removing American Cardinal Raymond Burke as head of the Vatican’s highest court was a “punishment” for his outspokenly conservative views at a recent summit of bishops, saying instead he wanted a “smart American” to serve as patron of the Order of Malta.

“It is not true that I removed him because of [NB]how he had behaved in the synod,” Francis said.

The pontiff said that the move was part of a broader restructuring of the Vatican bureaucracy that had been decided well before the October 5-19 synod of bishops on the family. The reason he waited until after the synod to make it official, he said, was so that Burke could still participate in the meeting as the head of a Vatican department.

The comments came in an interview with the Argentinian daily La Nacion, and was conducted by veteran Rome writer Elisabetta Piqué. In the same interview, the Argentine-born pope also talked about the continued need to find pastoral solutions to challenges facing divorced and remarried Catholics and gay Catholics; his ongoing curial reforms; and challenges facing the Church in Latin America.

The 66-year-old Burke, formerly the bishop of Lacrosse[sic], Wisconsin, and archbishop of St. Louis, has become a symbol for many Americans of a perceived hostility from Pope Francis to more tradition-minded Catholic viewpoints.

continue at Crux ( a must read )

In case you didn't know, it is "La Crosse" not "Lacrosse."  I see that alot on the Burke articles.

Not removed because of synod behavior but perhaps other behavior, like wearing traditional vestments.  He says that him and Cdl. Burke have spoke on the matter.

The pope goes on to say "It’s healthy to get things out into the open, it’s very healthy."  I totally agree, and I'm glad he seems to reiterate this point.  We have Cardinal Kasper claiming he is being attacked when someone gives an opinion contrary to his own.  You got a take, own it!  Don't shake your fist because you can't control everyone like in the German church.  

A few more: 

“Nobody mentioned homosexual marriage at the synod, it did not cross our minds,” the pope said.

also

"This [divorced and remarried people] was a pastoral concern: will we allow them to go to Communion? Communion alone is no solution."

So I don't live in the fantasy world where Cdl. Burke's removal was some brilliant idea that makes him a more effective prince of the Church.  That said, Pope Francis does (perhaps in response to cardinals like Burke or George) clarify the teachings of the Church.  "Brainstorming" isn't heresy, and "Communion alone" means Communion without repentance.  He seems to be saying the Kasper proposal alone is no solution.  Apparently, that brings us to this idea of streamlining annulments, where you have this drive through, no fault annulment.  This probably is not a way to build better second marriages in the Church.  But I guess we will have to wait and see what comes of next year's synod.  Having Christians in invalid marriages stand as "godfathers and godmothers" doesn't really solve any problem in the Church.  Many would agree the problem with modern clericalism isn't that priests "can't relate" to people, regardless of the sin, it's that people want to be their own priest, forgive their own sins, witness to their own marriage(s), offer their own communion services or do parts of the Mass a priest does to "participate," and the list goes on.  Modern clericalism is the belief that we all need be sacramental priests to be happy, when the truth is we are happiest when priests and the hierarchical Church handle what they were put on Earth to do.


Anywho, here's his full answer on Kasper:

- What do you think about the solution put forward by the German cardinal Walter Kasper?

Kasper´s address to the cardinals last February included five chapters, four of them are a jewel, about the purpose of marriage, open, in depth. The fifth is the question of what do we do with divorcees who have remarried; they are part of our congregation after all. Kasper´s hypothesis is not his own. Let´s look into that. What happened? Some theologians feared such assumptions and that is keeping our heads down. Kasper urged us to seek hypothesis, i.e., he made the first move. And some panicked. And went as far as to say: Communion, never. Only spiritual Communion. And tell me, don´t we need the grace of God to receive spiritual communion? That´s why spiritual communion obtained the fewest votes in the relatio synodi, because nobody was in agreement. Those for it, because there´s not much to it, voted against it; and those who are not for it and would rather go for the other one, because it´s not worth it..

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