(Oh, and a very blessed Christmas to all our readers and their families!!!)
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The Upcoming Burke-Bergoglio
Battle over the Knights of Malta
by Pater Ignotus
It is no secret that Pope Francis’s removal of Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke from the tribunal of the Apostolic Signature and his installation as “Patron” of the Knights of Malta was intended to consign the trad-friendly Ur-canonist to an ecclesiastical backwater. No “promoveatur,” just “amoveatur,” and don’t let the door slam on your cappa magna on your way out.
How much trouble, Bergoglio and his entourage probably figured, could Burke possibly cause heading a charitable organization that now specializes in disaster relief?
Well plenty, it seems. Rorate readers are well aware of the cardinal’s strenuous efforts to defend the traditional Catholic teachings on marriage and the reception of the sacraments, especially in the affair of the “dubia,” which has yet to play out completely.
Apart from this, though, readers should be ready to watch how Francis’ plan to neutralize the cardinal is about to blow up in his face.
On Tuesday, December 22, the Knights of Malta’s council, with the concurrence of Cardinal Burke, dismissed the Order’s Grand Chancellor (and as Health superior, responsible for the Malteser charity activities), Albrecht von Boesinger, in connection with the distribution of condoms under the aegis of the Order in Burma.
One can see why this would cause agitation in the buffet line at the Casa S. Marta. If every case of divorce, remarriage and reception of the sacraments is somehow “unique” and requires “accompaniment,” if morality is not “black and white,” and if nothing is now “malum in se,” why fire a religious who adopts a “merciful” approach towards condoms?
Pope Bergoglio immediately established a five-man Vatican commission to investigate whether the Order’s council had acted correctly with regard to Boesinger’s dismissal – the hidden goal of the inquiry being, of course, to discredit or remove Burke.
The method is a variant on the one Francis employed in order to destroy the traditionally-oriented Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.
But the Sovereign Order of Malta cannot be so easily picked off. It is an ancient religious order whose members profess solemn vows, its government is regulated by a thicket of previous papal legislation and it is, to boot, a sovereign entity.
The Order’s response to Pope Bergoglio’s appointment of the five-man commission was curt and to the point:
“The Grand Magistry of the Sovereign Order of Malta has learnt of the decision made by the Holy See to appoint a group of five persons to shed light on the replacement of the former Grand Chancellor.“The replacement of the former Grand Chancellor is an act of internal governmental administration of the Sovereign Order of Malta and consequently falls solely within its competence.”
"Drop dead," in other words. None of your business.
You can be sure that before the council of the Order issued this response, His Eminence Cardinal Burke did his canonical homework.
So if Francis decides to pursue his vendetta, he will have a real battle on his hands with a formidable, intelligent and articulate opponent.
And we can savor the irony of how Francis, as a result of his attempt to neutralize Burke, will have brought all this mischief down upon himself: Convertetur dolor ejus in caput ejus, et in verticem ipsius iniquitas ejus descendet!
