Guest Article By David Martin
Cardinal Raymond Burke, who heads the Vatican's highest court of canon law and who is recognized as one of the most outstanding prelates of the Catholic Church today has gone on record as saying that the recent Synod on the Family was designed to "weaken the Church's teaching and practice.” This “weakening” apparently had the blessing of Pope Francis.
On October 17, Burke told BuzzFeed News: "If Pope Francis had selected certain cardinals to steer the meeting to advance his personal views on matters like divorce and the treatment of LGBT people, he would not be observing his mandate as the leader of the Catholic Church."
Unfortunately the Synod was controlled by a clique of liberals and their media affiliates so that the views of the good bishops in attendance were scarcely reflected in the Synod documents. The pope’s duty was to censure progressivist, anti-family action and to support the views of conservative participants who demonstrated true pastoral concern, but we saw quite the opposite.
Conservative Catholic sources report that Francis in fact has been “irritated” with Burke and other Vatican conservatives for opposing the views of Cardinal Kasper, the key spokesman of the upheaval and Francis' close ally, who maintains that divorced and “remarried” people be allowed to receive Holy Communion. Burke’s censure of Kasper and his defense of orthodoxy have unfortunately put an end to his work in Rome, as Francis has now demoted him from his position as Rome’s chief guardian of canon law, and is sending him to the island of Malta in a sort of exile to assume a rather insignificant post there. This was confirmed by Burke in his interview with BuzzFeed on October 17.
But Burke remains relentless in his defense of truth. The cardinal said: “The pope, more than anyone else as the pastor of the universal church, is bound to serve the truth,” pointing out that "the pope is not free to change the church’s teachings with regard to the immorality of homosexual acts or the insolubility of marriage or any other doctrine of the Faith.”
Given the times we are living in, the most pastoral thing the pope can do is to safeguard the flock from false pastors, so it is nothing less than appalling that suspect theologians like Cardinal Kasper were appointed to key positions of the Synod. Other participating members included Cardinal Timothy Dolan who supports gay participation in the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Cardinal Donald Wuerl who from his seminary days has been known as “Wuerl the girl,” and Cardinal Godfried Danneels who is reputed for his pedophile connections and gay-marriage advocacy.
In short, a gay-lobby was in force to corrupt the Synod, as evidenced in the Synod’s midterm report Relatio post Disceptationem which embraced gayhood with open arms. The Synod fathers were all aware that Francis had read and approved the relatio for publication, so this raises some serious questions about Francis and warrants growing concerns that he clarify his position on critical moral issues. Burke said in his interview that Francis has "done a lot of harm” by not stating “openly what his position is.”
The thrust of the progressivist lobby was to drum up respect for homosexuality and to incorporate people of gay orientation, as if they were a valued part of the Catholic Church. Consider the following from the relatio issued by the Synod on Monday, October 13:
50. "Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community... Are we capable of providing for these people, guaranteeing them a place of fellowship in our communities? Oftentimes, they want to encounter a Church which offers them a welcoming home. Are our communities capable of this, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation?"
Since when is the orientation of lewd sex offenders something that the Holy Roman Catholic Church values? The Church rather condemns homosexuality and places it on par with willful murder, listing it as one of the “four sins crying to Heaven for vengeance.”
St. Paul speaks of those offenders and enemies of the Faith "who have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy," and goes on to say that "they who do such things are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them." (Romans 1:27,32) Hence if so much as respecting homosexuality renders one "worthy of death," how is it that a Vatican synod could have the dare to foster its growth?
The same-sex aspiration of homosexuals is not a gift, but a criminal tendency springing from the devil and original sin, just as the desire to rape or murder is of the devil. If doctors go to great extent to purge cancerous tumors from the body, with how much greater urgency must the hierarchy purge these effeminate tumors from the Body of Christ? There certainly can be no integrating of filth with grace. Yet the Relatio states:
51. "The question of homosexuality requires serious reflection on how to devise realistic approaches to affective growth, human development and maturation in the Gospel, while integrating the sexual aspect."
Since when does the hierarchy reflect seriously on how to integrate sodomy with Holy Mother the Church? Have they forgotten the divine wrath and destruction that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah for the sin of homosexuality? Are they so addicted to their shame that they would rather watch their brothers and sisters burn in the torture chambers of eternity before admitting their error?
Charity for homosexuals consists in rescuing them from their bondage, not in sustaining their vice so that it takes them down to the fires of Hell. The Church’s pastoral duty to gays is to correct and admonish them about their offense so that they too can be saved. It is only through repentance and amendment of life that homosexuals and mortal offenders can be admitted to the Church. The mere fact that this is been the Church’s fruitful and unwavering position for 2000 years should be enough proof that it should be the Church’s position today. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thess. 5:21)
Hence the midterm relatio of October 13 constituted a radical break from Church teaching. By Thursday October 16, the conservative backlash was so great that it exploded into an all-out revolt that significantly altered the direction of the Synod for the better. A professor from a pontifical university in Rome who was in direct contact with the Synod fathers had this to say:
“I have spoken to a huge number of prelates in the past few days, many of them Synod Fathers. They are all furious and indignant with Francis. A president of a Conference of Bishops of a large African country even called him to my face "an agent of disruption." The right word to describe the general atmosphere reigning in the Curia and the Synod, after 18 months of a government imposed by fear and persecution, is one I've heard several times in the past week: "esasperazione" ("exasperation"). The experiences of the past century show that a government of fear and manipulation cannot subsist for long without rebellion, and that was what erupted on Thursday. It was as if a pressure cooker exploded at the end of an 18-month-long simmering.” (Rorate Caeli blogspot.com)
The real rebellion will occur in the future if we don’t see more of this passionate defense of the Faith in Rome. History has proved that some of the most important decisions of Church history occurred in a moment of intense moral indignation, just as the indignation of the good bishops paid off at the Synod. Among the key warriors leading the charge was Cardinal Burke, the public opponent of Francis throughout the Synod, who together with several cardinals accused Francis of having inflicted “great damage” to the Church. Of noteworthy mention is Archbishop Napier of South Africa, who distinguished himself as one of the key opponents of the obscene relatio and who spoke of the “irreparable damage” to the Synod in his potent, but lucidly eloquent first speech.
Even so, the Synod on the Family did not completely alter its tune after the confrontation. The final Synod document Relatio Synodi, issued on October 18, still echos some of the gay sympathies reflected in the previous document, though significantly toned down and with more diplomacy. But nonetheless there, as we read in article 55:
“Men and women with homosexual tendencies must be welcomed with respect and gentleness. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided." This ambiguous double-talk is reminiscent of the Vatican II Council which also used mushy, ambiguous wording to advance progressive agenda.
The point being that there is nothing said or even implied in the final document that homosexuality is a gravely sinful disorder generated by the devil, and one which is spawning most of the sexual-abuse throughout the Church. It would have made more sense for the Synod to extend “welcoming” arms to rapists, porn-hustlers, and gamblers, since their poison isn’t as deadly as that of homosexuals, nor is it directed against the institution of the family the way gay agenda is. It is a known fact that the lesbians and gays run the pro-death culture throughout the world!
But we owe our indebtedness to Cardinal Burke and those faithful ones of the conservative lobby who stood up against the obscene clique, because without their action the key architects of the Synod would have succeeded with their plan to proclaim to the world that the Catholic Church had finally embraced homosexuality as an accepted way of life. The planned “October revolution” was foiled! The Synod served as a spiritual call to arms, and one which Burke and his allies answered with a great deal of courage and zeal.
And interesting to note that Cardinal Burke is a fervent advocate of the Traditional Latin Mass wherein the priest says the Mass facing the tabernacle, ad orientum. Time and again we have seen how the old Mass fosters a sense of doctrinal purity and true pastoral concern, as opposed to the new rite which in many ways has adulterated the Faith and alienated the faithful from God.
The faithful indeed are blessed to have someone like Cardinal Raymond Burke to look to at this crucial moment of Church history. May he serve to strengthen the wearied bands, and may the Church Militant follow his lead in speaking out against error without respect to persons.
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