Cardinal Burke On "The Francis Effect" And Church-Government Relations

Two days ago, Raymond Arroyo had the opportunity to interview Raymond Cardinal Burke when the latter was at EWTN.  The video is below, with the interview beginning at the 9:00 mark.  At 20:30 His Eminence touches upon the Apostolic Exhortation that has been the topic of much conversation and debate.  He points out that the Holy Father stated in the beginning that he never intended those remarks to be part of the teaching Magisterium.  At 22:55 discussion of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass commences.  He mentions (at 24:33) that the Holy Father gave a smack-down to a bishop who voiced disdain for the allowance of the Tridentine Mass.  He also mentioned that when he celebrates the Extraordinary Form, there are many young people with children in attendance.

They then start, at 27:10, to discuss the merging of the Vatican Embassy with the Italian Embassy: in other words, the closing of the Vatican Embassy.  Listen particularly at 28:29; when questioned about the impression that Obama is snubbing the Church, His Eminence replies that "I have to say that given the way the present administration treats the Catholic Church in general, that wouldn't surprise me too much.  I mean, this whole disaster on conscience rights and so forth ... the idea that yes you can have freedom of religion but it's now reduced to freedom of worship, you can do what you want within the four walls of your church but beyond that what you believe in the depth of your heart has no importance to the government of the United States of America which is an absolute contradiction of the founding principles of this nation.."

God bless Cardinal Burke for speaking truth to power.  Pray for more bishops and priests like him.