Catholic social media is flooded with prayerful pleading, such as:
Please dear God, grant that the conclave elect Cardinal Robert Sarah! Come Holy Ghost, make known Your will that Cardinal Raymond Burke be elevated to the Chair of Peter!
I get it. These sincere persons are suffering from PTBD, Post Traumatic Bergoglio Disorder.
Wearied from a brutal twelve-year assault on Our Blessed Lord and His Church – a barrage of error, heresy, and blasphemy almost as unrelenting as Israeli bombs dropping on Palestinian children – those who are dreaming of a Burkean or Sarahn pontificate are desperate for a reprieve, any reprieve.
Are either of these scenarios possible?
Sure, this falls squarely into the category “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26)
In other words, miracles happen.
That said, the election of either man wouldn’t be miracle enough to bring the Holy Roman Catholic Church back into the full light of day. Rather, another miracle would be needed, namely, their conversion.
Both Sarah and Burke are men-of-the-Council through and through, and I don’t mean Trent.
I am referring , of course, to Vatican II, the so-called “New Pentecost” that birthed the conciliar counterfeit church, freshly delivered from the pit of Hell, the same that is presently casting a dark, diabolical shadow over the one true Church of Christ.
As a service to those who naïvely believe that a Papa Bruke or a Papa Sarah – apart from a profound conversion – would restore universal radiance to the face of the Church such as it was before the “Good Pope John” flung open her windows to let in the stench of the world, below are some reminders as to who these men truly are.
Cardinal Raymond Burke
- “The state or government, in fact, must, first and foremost respect the freedom of religion, the freedom of man in His relationship with God, which has its most fundamental expression in the freedom of conscience.” (HERE)
In truth, the state’s first obligation is to serve Christ the King and to recognize His Sovereign Rights, not the bogus “right to religious freedom founded in the very dignity of the human person” espoused by the Council. (DH 2)
As Pope Pius XI explains, the state is bound to respect the exclusive right to perfect freedom that belongs to the Catholic Church alone, which is the Kingdom of Christ on earth. It must not place the religion of Christ ignominiously on the same level with the false religions. (see Quas Primas)
Cardinal Burke, despite being considered a champion of traditional liturgy is a defender of the Novus Ordo, saying: (HERE)
- “I understand that they [the TLM and the Novus Ordo] are the same rite, and I believe that, when the so-called New Rite or the Ordinary Form is celebrated with great care and with a strong sense that the Holy Liturgy is the action of God, one can see more clearly the unity of the two forms of the same rite.”
Though it’s hardly necessary, I might also remind readers of Burke’s unwillingness to defend the true doctrine of the faith (and the souls of the innocent) from the grave errors set forth in Amoris Laetitia. He initially roared like a lion, promising to execute a so-called “formal act of correction” of Francis, but, ultimately, he shrunk away like a coward.
His cowardice showed through once again during the COVID crisis as governments throughout the world overstepped their bounds by shuttering Catholic Church’s, saying:
- “We need to insist that the regulations of the State, also for the good of the State, recognize the distinct importance of places of worship, especially in time of national and international crisis.” (HERE)
NB: He is essentially saying that we must plead with the State to allow all places of worship to remain open because, well, it will be good for the State.
A Catholic stance, by contrast, would be to inform the State that it has no right whatsoever to regulate the activities of the Catholic Church. Ever. As for the Muslims, Jews, and assorted heretics, that’s another story.
More could be said of Cardinal Burke’s need for conversion, but all of the above is an outgrowth of his allegiance to the Almighty Council.
- “In the midst of the present confusion and division, we must study more attentively the teachings of the faith contained in the [1983] Catechism of the Catholic Church.” (HERE)
In truth, the 1983 CCC exists for the sole purpose of propagating the conciliar faith – not the Holy Catholic faith.
Cardinal Robert Sarah
In July of 2016, as Prefect of the [conciliar] Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW), Sarah sheepishly made the following comment at the Sacra Liturgia Conference in London.
- “I want to make an appeal to all priests … Your own pastoral judgement will determine how and when this [ad orientem posture] is possible, but perhaps beginning this on the first Sunday of Advent this year … may be a very good time to do this.” (HERE)
Sarah was widely praised by tradservatives for his liturgical leadership for kinda sorta suggesting that ad orientem worship be employed by priests during the non-Catholic rite of Paul the Pathetic.
The hoopla didn’t last long as the Prefect was called to the carpet by Bergoglio within days, an impromptu audience with the boss that resulted in a Communique making it clear that there will be no such “new indications … regarding celebration facing the people and the ordinary rite of the Mass.” (HERE)
In other words, Sarah was publicly smacked down. Being a man-of-the-Council (as opposed to a man of Catholic conviction), he never mentioned the subject in any meaningful way ever again.
Despite this, Sarah asserted in a book that he co-wrote with the so-called “Pope Emeritus” Ratzinger in 2020:
- “Like Augustine we can say: ‘I cannot be silent! I know indeed how pernicious silence would be for me… It is to Christ that I will have to account for the sheep entrusted to my care. I can’t keep quiet or pretend ignorance.’ We do it in a spirit of love for the unity of the Church. If ideology divides, the truth unites hearts.”
Evidently, Sarah had either forgotten, or had hoped that the sheep had forgotten, how he abandoned them in favor of going mute about ad orientem worship lest he invite Bergoglio’s ire.
Let’s be honest, the worst fate that he might have met for doubling down on his liturgical convictions (if you will allow) would have been losing his place at the CDW and joining Raymond Burke on the tradservative banquet circuit (i.e., great food, good pay, nice accommodations, an adoring crowd of well-heeled benefactors, etc.)
So much for “I cannot be silent.”
At the same 2016 conference mentioned above, Sarah pointed to Vatican II, not as the source of the liturgical disaster that followed, but rather as the remedy!
- “We must be utterly clear about the nature of Catholic worship if we are to read the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy correctly and if we are to implement it faithfully.” (HERE)
Ah, yes, the Council properly implemented, otherwise known as the hermeneutic of continuous chaos. This is precisely what a Burkean or Sarahn pontificate will deliver apart from a profound conversion to the one true Faith.
