Pope Francis Takes Drastic Action vs. High-Ranking Critic Cardinal Raymond Burke

Pope Francis continues to go after those promoting "disunity" in the Roman Catholic Church, particularly in the US, as he moves against Cardinal Raymond Burke.

This marks the second time he has moved against a high-ranking American church official as the more conservative wing of the Church has become very loud in opposing him. Among the loudest are US bishops and cardinals like Burke.

The pontiff revoked the controversial US cardinal's right to a subsidized Vatican apartment and salary. This came after a meeting of the heads of Vatican offices last week.

He informed other Church leaders that he was moving against the American cardinal because he was a source of "disunity" in the church.

The pontiff noted that the now-retired Cardinal Raymond Burke has been using the privileges afforded to him by the Church but he is using those privileges against it. Meanwhile, Burke's secretary told The Associated Press via text message that the cardinal "has not received any notification of measures being taken" yet.

In his time as the Archbishop of Rome, also known as the Pope, Pope Francis instituted several big reforms to reach out to ordinary people more and be more responsive to their needs. He also reached out to LGBTQ+ people more than his predecessors. However, these projects to modernize the Church were all loudly opposed by Cardinal Raymond Burke, whom Pope Francis fired as the Vatican's high court justice in 2014.

Cardinal Raymond Burke Was a Very Loud Critic of Pope Francis

Burke was among the many conservative cardinals who have been vocal in their opposition to reforms being made by the pontiff. This includes joining other conservative cardinals in issuing formal questions to the pope, known as "dubia," to ask him to clarify questions of doctrine that upset many conservatives and traditionalists such as himself.

According to the National Catholic Reporter, when Pope Francis did not immediately respond to the questions, he leaked them to the media. He also directly opposed the pope's big meeting of bishops last month, known as a synod, with his own counter-synod of sorts. It happened just steps away from St. Peter's Square where the actual synod had been happening.

During that counter-synod, Burke rebuked the pope's vision of "synodality" and his overall reforms, saying, "It's unfortunately very clear that the invocation of the Holy Spirit by some has the aim of bringing forward an agenda that is more political and human than ecclesial and divine."

However, the controversial cardinal has also attracted critics of his own outside the Church, saying that his sticking to the traditions and not adapting to modern times would be bad for the Roman Catholic Church in general as it would turn off more people from going to Mass.

Pope Francis Meets With Abuse Victims from France

Meanwhile, Pope Francis still has a busy schedule and this included a meeting with a group of victims of child abuse committed by members of the Church. All the sex abuse victims were from Nantes, France, according to Vatican News.

Pope Francis has been quietly rooting out sex abuse by the clergy throughout his tenure and stated in the meeting, "The subversion of a child's rights through violence and abuse is a betrayal of our God-given humanity."

During the meeting, he listened to the stories of the victims and survivors, with the pontiff renewing his commitment to "safeguarding policies and professional standards in the formation of clergy and religious" and ensuring safe environments in schools.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Pope Francis summons entire bishops' conference for 2nd time in his pontificate - ROME REPORTS in English