Cardinal Who Lost Free Vatican Home Has 4-Word Message on Meeting With Pope
newsweek.comPope Francis' staunchest critics, had a pithy response when asked how his meeting on Friday with the pontiff went: "Well, I'm still alive."Burke commented to Reuters outside his residence in Rome, a little over one month after the pope revoked his right to a subsidized Vatican apartment and salary.
The threat of eviction against Burke, a retired cardinal, was due to promoting "disunity" in the church, as initially reported by one source to the Associated Press.
Another source said that Francis believed Burke's privileges were being used against the church.It was reportedly the 75-year-old cardinal's first private visit with the pope since November 10, 2016.
Both the Vatican and Burke declined to add any additional details to the meeting and the subject matter discussed, and Burke would not comment on the situation regarding his apartment.Newsweek reached out to the Vatican via email for comment.When reports spread of the pope's intentions to revoke Burke's apartment and salary, he received criticism from others within the church.One of Burke's defenders was Bishop Joseph Strickland, of the pastoral governance of Tyler, Texas, who was "removed" by Francis after refusing to step down following a Vatican investigation into the governance of his diocese.Strickland, who described the pope's actions against Burke as "an atrocity that must be opposed," garnered plenty of support in his speaking out—notably from conservatives, some of which have referred to Francis' papacy as "tyrannical" and him as a "dictator."Prior to the 2020 presidential election, Burke made headlines when he suggested that Joe Biden—who ultimately became the second Catholic ever to become president—was not "in good standing" with the church due to his abortion views, and thus didn't deserve to receive holy communion.The cardinal became a popular conservative figure during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to his skepticism towards the coronavirus vaccine and government overreach.In May 2020, he claimed that.
