Vatican insiders claim Pope Francis poised to punish conservative US cardinal

Vatican insiders are claiming Pope Francis has requested punitive measures against American Cardinal Raymond Burke.

Reports from The Associated Press and Catholic outlet The Pillar have independently confirmed reports that Pope Francis expressed intentions to take action against Burke for allegedly bolstering “disunity” in the Church.

The pontiff allegedly mentioned revoking the cardinal’s salary and Vatican apartment as avenues of punitive measures.

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Pope Francis presides over Holy Mass in memory of the late Pope Benedict XVI and the cardinals and bishops who died in 2023. (Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

No actions have yet been taken against Burke at the time of this reporting.

Burke has become prominent in Catholic media over the past few years due to his consistent criticisms of decisions made under the current papacy.

His outspoken objections are always tempered, however, by affirmations that he is loyal to Pope Francis and that the pontiff is not his “enemy.”

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Cardinal Raymond Burke, center, at the Clementina Hall in Vatican City. (Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

Burke was named a cardinal in 2010 by Pope Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. 

Since 2016, Burke has been slowly stripped of multiple offices and honors, including his position in the Congregation for Divine Worship and his patronage of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Burke has remained largely silent on his demotions and has refused to entertain characterizations of hostility toward the Holy See.

Cardinal Raymond Burke attends the funeral Mass for Cardinal William Joseph Levada at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images)

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The rumors of Francis targeting Burke follow the pontiff’s decision to remove Bishop Edward Strickland from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, earlier this month.

Strickland was removed from his diocese amid similarly tense relationships with Rome.

“I believe Pope Francis is the Pope, but it is time for me to say that I reject his program of undermining the Deposit of Faith. Follow Jesus,” Strickland had written in May of this year.