Catholic organizations around the world are reacting with outrage to reports that Pope Francis has stripped an American cardinal of his housing and salary for questioning his support of transexuals serving as godparents and other related ideologies.
On Nov. 27, The Italian Catholic news blog La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana reported that Pope Francis called Cardinal Raymond Burke, a native of Wisconsin, a “source of disunity” in the Church.
“Cardinal Burke is my enemy, so I will take away his apartment and his salary,” La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana reported, quoting an anonymous source in the Vatican.
Other major Catholic outlets, including the Catholic News Agency, EWTN, and The Pilot, the United States’ oldest Catholic newspaper, are also reporting or commenting on the story.
Michael Hichborn, founder of the conservative Catholic organization the LaPanto Institute, told The Epoch Times that the pope’s actions are unprecedented and reprehensible.
“He’s tearing the church apart,” he said. “What he’s doing is he’s scandalizing the faithful.”
C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts and a historian on Catholicism, told The Epoch Times that he thinks the pope is out out of line with traditional Catholic doctrines, that it’s time for him to resign.
“The hypocrisy of this pontificate is astonishing,” he said. “The pope speaks of ’mercy‘ and ’accompaniment,' but removes or punishes anyone who disagrees with his novel and heterodox initiatives.”
Cardinal Burke is the second Catholic official in a month to be disciplined by the pope for questioning promoted viewpoints that don’t align with the traditional tenets of the Catholic Church.
Earlier this month, the Holy See fired Bishop Joseph Strickland of Texas after he refused to resign voluntarily. The reason for terminating the bishop from his pastoral position was disclosed by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo.
