VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee | Oct. 17, 2014 NCR Today
U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a former archbishop of St. Louis known for his rigorist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, has reportedly confirmed rumors that Pope Francis is planning to remove him from his influential post as the chief justice of the Vatican’s Supreme Court.
Burke is reported to confirm the rumors, which have attracted attention in recent weeks as a sign that Francis may be preparing a tonal shift at the Vatican, in a piece Friday by BuzzFeed News.
“I very much have enjoyed and have been happy to give this service, so it is a disappointment to leave it,” Burke is reported to say in the piece, which goes on to say that the cardinal is yet to receive formal notice of his removal.
The rumors in recent weeks have speculated that Burke, currently the prefect of the Vatican’s Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, would be moved to the largely ceremonial post of patron to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
“In the church as priests, we always have to be ready to accept whatever assignment we’re given,” Burke is reported to say in the BuzzFeed piece. “And so I trust by accepting this assignment I trust that God will bless me, and that’s what’s in the end most important.”
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