Pope Francis Meets With U.S.-born Cardinal amid Salary, Apartment Controversy

Francis at the end of November reportedly confirmed that he was planning to take away the prelate’s apartment and salary. The Holy Father at that time allegedly denied that he referred to Burke as his “enemy.”

Papal biographer Austen Ivereigh had written in late November that Pope Francis had told him the news concerning Burke wasn’t meant to be a public announcement but that it had been leaked to the press. 

Burke has been known for his periodic disputes with some of Francis’ decisions and directives. In 2021 the cardinal released a 19-point statement regarding Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditionis Custodes in which Burke called the Holy See’s restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass “severe and revolutionary” and questioned the pope’s authority to revoke use of the rite.

Burke was also among the five cardinals who sent a list of dubia to the pope expressing concerns and seeking clarification on points of doctrine and discipline ahead of the October Synod on Synodality at the Vatican. 

The prelates had submitted a previous version of the dubia to Francis in July, but the pope responded in full answers rather than in the customary form of “yes” and “no” replies, which prompted the cardinals to submit a revised request for clarification. The responses “have not resolved the doubts we had raised, but have, if anything, deepened them,” they said at the time. 

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Burke later stressed the dubia were not meant as an attack on Francis himself, stating that the queries were concerned “exclusively with the perennial doctrine and discipline of the Church, not a pope’s agenda.”

Daniel Payne is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.