At the Rome Life Forum that took place in early December, John-Henry Westen did his best Captain Obvious impersonation, remarking, “We are in strange times.”
In a video excerpt posted on YouTube, Westen explained:
Think about this: In the last pontificate, we had Dubia cardinals. Something very strange is that now we have an American pope who speaks in English of issues known to Americans on American issues.
He has said, as we’ve just related on abortion, that, well, if you’re not against the death penalty, you’re not really pro-life. He sat for an interview with James Martin. He allowed for the LGBT pilgrimage into the Vatican, the abomination of desolation entering the holy place as Bishop Schneider said.
That Leo has followed Bergoglio’s lead in so many ways isn’t the strange part. According to Westen, it’s this:
And yet the American cardinal best known for speaking up under Francis has been silent. To me that’s the most shocking thing. I don’t even know how to make sense of that.
Maybe I can help.
What John-Henry is witnessing is the Zip-It ™ strategy being put into action by the man that appears to be its principal architect. [See Substack from Stephen Kokx.]
Already in mid-June, there were signs that Cardinal Burke had made a conscious decision to bite his tongue with respect to all things Bergoglio 2.0 in exchange for the mere possibility that Leo just might take a more lenient stand regarding the Traditional Latin Mass.
Speaking at a conference in June, Burke stated:
It is my hope that he [Leo XVI] will put an end to the persecution of the faithful in the Church who desire to worship God according to the more ancient usage of the Roman Rite – this persecution from within the Church. I certainly have already had occasion to express that to the Holy Father.
By this time, it had been a full month since Leo declared from the loggia at St. Peter’s, “We want to be a synodal church!”
Less than two weeks later, Leo reiterated his commitment to synodality when he stated:
I would like to assure you of my intention to continue Pope Francis’ commitment to promoting the synodal nature of the Catholic Church and developing new and concrete forms for an ever stronger synodality in ecumenical relations.
In response, Burke didn’t utter a public peep, even though he had been, up to that point, one of synodality’s most outspoken critics.
In September of 2023, for example, back when Jorge Bergoglio was still running the synodal show, in a letter penned by Burke for publication in the book, The Synodal Process is a Pandora’s Box, written by Cardinals José Antonio Ureta and Julio Loredo de Izcue, he stated:
Synodality and its adjective, synodal, have become slogans behind which a revolution is at work to change radically the church’s self-understanding, in accord with a contemporary ideology which denies much of what the church has always taught and practiced.
Get that? According to Burke’s understanding, “We want to be a synodal church” is tantamount to a revolutionary battle cry!
And yet he Zipped-It™ when Leo declared just this.
In October of 2024, roughly six months before Robert Prevost was elected CEO of Manchurch, Burke told Raymond Arroyo during an EWTN interview:
Synodality is not a mark of the Church.
Did he repeat as much in response to Leo’s contention that the Catholic Church has “a synodal nature”?
No, of course not. Once again, he chose to Zip-It™.
As the end of summer neared, the reason why Burke had chosen to Zip-It™ became clearer.
On August 22nd, Raymond Leo (The Suddenly Silent Lion) Burke met with Prevost in a private audience that lasted for more than half-an-hour. Evidently, their discussion resulted in at least a partial meeting of the minds as it was announced on September 7 that Burke had secured permission to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica as part of the annual Summorum Pontifcum pilgrimage which took place in late October.
While a celebration of the TLM at St. Peter’s had been part of the pilgrimage every year since its inception in 2012, permission for this was denied in both 2023 and 2024.
Ordinarily, a request for such permission would be submitted to the Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica (Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, since 2021), who would consider the request in consultation with the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, headed by Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, also since 2001.
That said, there can be little doubt that permission was ultimately given in 2025 (or denied, as was in the case in 2023 and 2024) by the man-in-white. In fact, given the fallout from Traditionis Custodes, it seems entirely reasonable to imagine that the 2025 request was also made directly of Leo – if not formally in writing, at least verbally – and this by none other than his fellow American Cardinal Burke.
In an August 29, 2025, podcast hosted by 2024 U.S. Presidential candidate, Taylor R. Marshall of the Christ the King Party, Michael J. Matt, publisher of America’s oldest… oh, you know the rest… explained:
If [Leo] sees that we’re willing to meet him a little bit on something like the Latin Mass, well great. Cardinal Burke was just talking to him last week, probably about the Latin Mass.
If Cardinal Burke turns around and he sees the Traditional Catholic movement like night of the living dead — ‘Leo is a heretic!’ — well that’s just silly. It doesn’t accomplish anything.
Even in terms of trying to get some advantages like the Latin Mass restored, it makes sense to kind of zip it a little bit and see what happens with men like Cardinal Burke and Cardinal Muller and Cardinal Sarah, who are pushing in a favorable direction.
Pay close attention…
First, Matt suggests that “the Traditional Catholic movement” (better described as Trad., Inc.) needs to demonstrate its willingness to meet Leo a little. But then, he immediately pivots to Trad, Inc.’s posture in relation to Cardinal Burke, who just so happens to have had a meeting with Leo a week earlier.
The crux of that meeting, according to Michael Matt, who was just spit balling, ya know, was probably about the Latin Mass.
At this point, it seems pretty clear that Stephen Kokx was on to something when he wrote on May 11, 2025, just three days after Leo’s election:
My guess is there was a memo sent out by some prominent “conservative” cardinal (or cardinals) who won concessions from Prevost in exchange for calling off the attacks from Trad influencers … If true, it stands to reason that conservatives promised to support Prevost but only if he did not attack the Latin Mass, and if he would be more “traditional” in his presentation. That was agreed to, so it seems, but only on condition that American trads draw down their swords.
Michael Matt is one such “American trad,” and all indications are that Cardinal Burke is very likely one of, if not the chief, architect of the Zip-It™ strategy.
Back in October, I suggested that maybe Burke had struck a deal with Leo, perhaps offering to celebrate a high-profile and oh so reverent Novus Ordo in exchange for the permission that he secured for the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage. In reality, a deal had been struck alright, but Burke’s end of the quid pro quo was, evidently, already staring us in the face.
So, there you have it, John-Henry. Cardinal Burke’s silence in the face of so many grave offenses against Christ and His Church is a Devil’s bargain, one that calls to mind these cautionary words of Our Lord, words that Raymond Burke and the captains of Trad, Inc. seem to have forgotten:
For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?
