Pro-life leaders shocked by removal of Cardinal Burke
VATICAN CITY, December 16, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This morning the Vatican announced confirmations and new appointments to the important Congregation for Bishops leaving Cardinal Burke off the list. The news has shocked pro-life leaders for whom Burke has been the top ally in the Vatican curia in the work to restore a culture of life.
Burke has been known for his outspoken championing of the high priority that Popes Benedict and John Paul II gave to the Church’s pro-life and pro-family teachings. He has especially been both praised and criticized for his frequent insistence that persistently pro-abortion Catholic politicians must be denied Holy Communion according to Canon law requirements which Cardinal Ratzinger, before he became pope, directed the US bishops to follow.
Burke was moved out, said Fr. Orsi, because of his pro-life stance that pro-abortion politicians should be excommunicated.
That opinion is similar to the appraisal of Archbishop Blase J. Cupich of Spokane, Wash., who, speaking on the selection of bishops under Pope Francis, told the New York Times last month: “Pope Francis doesn’t want cultural warriors, he doesn’t want ideologues.” (Emphasis added -ED)