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Pope is evicting viciously anti-LGBTQ+ Cardinal from his home & yanking his pay
Pope Francis is continuing to send American church officials a blunt message. Knock it off with all the anti-LGBTQ+ MAGA-style attacks on the Vatican, other Catholics, and society in general.
Two weeks after the Pope took the dramatic and unusual step of firing a far-right American bishop, he is stripping former Cardinal Raymond Burke of his retirement pay and evicting him from his Vatican apartment.
Last week, the leader of the Catholic Church invited a group of transgender women to lunch. They had pasta and meatballs with tiramisu for dessert. A former sex worker sat at the table with the Pope.
The Vatican released a document earlier this month that said that transgender people and people in same-sex relationships can be baptized and serve as witnesses at weddings. Trans people can also be godparents as well.
Last month, Francis asserted that there may be a way for the Catholic Church to bless same-sex couples.
Burke has been one of the fiercest anti-LGBTQ+ prelates in the Catholic Church. He has called homosexuality an “ailment,” told parents that they should not allow their children to meet same-sex couples, and blamed the church’s child abuse scandal on “hedonistic” gay people rather than the church’s own predatory priests.
He has complained that the church has strayed from “absolute moral law” by not condemning “the plague of the homosexual agenda” forcefully enough. Burke was a leading proponent of bans on same-sex marriage nationwide.
He has also been a leader in decrying the use of condoms to prevent HIV. His opposition to condoms led to his exile from the Vatican by the current pope.
Burke had intervened to have the head of a church organization fired for approving the distribution of condoms to prostitutes in Myanmar. Francis used the episode to remove Burke from his powerful post and send him to Guam as punishment.
A favorite of former Pope Benedict XVI, the flamboyant American Cardinal’s fall from grace has been an ongoing spectacle. The conservative mouthpiece has even clashed with the Pope over his outfits. While Francis prefers simple garments, Burke followed Benedict’s example of wearing extravagant vestments like long trains of watered silk, golden brocades, and velvet gloves. At one point, Vatican officials reportedly asked Burke to “tone it down a bit.”
The Pope has repeatedly punished Burke for his outrageous antics. He was previously removed from his position in the church office that nominates new bishops. In 2014, he was stripped of his position as the head of the Vatican’s highest court and, instead, named to a ceremonial role as the head of the medieval religious order, the Knights of Malta.
Since his retirement, Burke had spent his time railing against the Pope, accusing him of trying to destroy the Church from within.
He also opposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates as “totalitarian,” claimed that the vaccine inserts microchips into people, and falsely claimed that the vaccine was developed “through the use of the cell lines of aborted fetuses.”
Many evangelical and Catholic anti-vaxxers used the last claim as an excuse not to get vaccinated, citing “religious objections” to abortion. Midway through the pandemic, Burke caught the virus and spent weeks on a ventilator.
While Burke was in the hospital, the Vatican released a public service announcement featuring Francis and other high-ranking Catholic leaders debunking Burke’s ravings.
“Getting the vaccines that are authorized by the respective authorities is an act of love,” Pope Francis said. “And helping the majority of people to do so is an act of love. Love for oneself, love for our families and friends, and love for all peoples.”
“Getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable.”
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