PHILIPPINES
Inquirer
Lito B. Zulueta-Lifestyle Arts and Books Editor
@inquirerdotnet
VATICAN CITY—The “Vatican official” who is helping Pope Francis practice and polish his English for his apostolic visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines next week is American Greg Burke, a former Time magazine and Fox News journalist who has been working with the Vatican State Secretariat as communications adviser since 2012 during the papacy of Benedict XVI.
Perhaps a surprising choice for a Pope who happens to be a Jesuit religious, Burke is a member of Opus Dei, a Catholic group of mostly laymen who take religious vows, including celibacy.
Opus Dei has always taken orthodox positions that have been called “ultraconservative,” positions that often clash with those of the more liberal Jesuits. The group has likewise been smeared by the liberal secular media for its alleged secretiveness and elitism.
The Vatican spokesperson, Rev. Federico Lombardi, had said that the Pope’s second Asian trip, like the first to South Korea, would be an “all-English affair” and that Francis would deliver all his “discourses” in English. (Sri Lanka is a former British colony and the Philippines, a former American colony.)
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