Catholic Fire

Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, delivered a speech on September 8 discussing how to advance the culture of life in the U.S. and how to rectify the “scandal” of publicly known Catholics who confuse and distort Church teaching. At the 14th Annual Partnership Dinner of InsideCatholic.com, Archbishop Burke said that t hose who have publicly espoused and cooperated in gravely sinful acts lead people into confusion and error about “fundamental questions.” Just as their dissent was public, their repentance must also be public. “The person in question bears a heavy responsibility for the grave scandal which he has caused. The responsibility is especially heavy for political leaders,” the archbishop added. Repairing the damage done by such scandal “begins with the public acknowledgment of his own error and the public declaration of his adherence to the moral law. The soul which recognizes the gravity of what he has done will, in fact, understand immediate...

Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Vatican’s highest court, the Apostolic Signatura, called on Catholics to “give an uncompromising witness” to the dignity of life and sharply criticized the University of Notre Dame for its planned honor for pro-abortion President Barack Obama during an address this morning to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC. (To read the complete address, go here. The archbishop began his address by noting that he has “the deepest concern for our nation,” and later implored Catholics to be aware of the “godless secularism and relativism” that underlie the Culture of Death. Commenting on the ongoing scandal of Notre Dame’s planned honor for President Obama, Archbishop Burke received a standing ovation from the crowd of more than 1,200 when he called it “rightly the source of the greatest scandal.” He also said that “in a culture marked by widespread and ingrained confusion about the most fundamental teachings of the moral law, our Cath...

Austin Ruse at The Catholic Thing shares the following: A reliable source tells me that someone representing the Obama administration is about to put pressure on the papal nuncio to the United States to get Archbishop Raymond Burke to be quiet. The Obama complaint is that Archbishop Burke, who is now head of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, has supported another bishop in his chastisement of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for her support of abortion. A few days ago Archbishop Burke gave an interview to the San Diego-based organization Catholic Action for Faith and Family, during which he took the gloves off about Sebelius, who has been nominated to head the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He noted her “public association with some of the more notorious agents of the culture of death.” This, of course, was a reference to her hosting a party for the late-term abortionist George Tiller, currently on trial in Kansas for nineteen infractions of abortion restrictions...

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue went to Rome recently and conducted an interview with Archbishop Burke, who is completely uncompromising in his interpretation and application of Canon 915. He hits the ground running: "Mr. Terry: For the umpteenth time, I and the others are asking, under Canon 915 what should or should not be done? Archbishop Burke: The Canon is completely clear, it is not subject in my judgment to any other interpretations. When someone is publicly and obstinately in grave sin we may not administer Holy Communion to the person. And that, basically, for two reasons: number one, to prevent the person himself or herself from committing a sacrilege, and secondly, to protect the sanctity of the Holy Eucharist. In other words, to approach, to receive our Lord in Holy Communion, when one insists on remaining in grave sin, is such a violation of the sanctity of the Holy Eucharist, so that Communion must not be given to people who are publicly, obstinately, in ...

Washington D.C., CNA - Organizers of the annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast are announcing that Archbishop Emeritus of St. Louis Raymond Burke will deliver the keynote address at this year's breakfast, which will be held on Friday, May 8. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will be guest speaker at the event. A 6:30 Mass will be celebrated for the event on the evening of May 7 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. The prayer breakfast itself will be held the morning of May 8 at the Hilton Washington, beginning with a Rosary at 7:15 am. An EWTN broadcast of the event will begin at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time, with the program itself commencing at 8:30. Article. For more information and to purchase tickets to this event, go here. This is must see TV for those of us who are unable to attend and I am definitely looking forward to it. It would also be a good opportunity for Archbishop Burke to visit Barack Obama. Do you suppose he could perform an exorcism?

Washington, DC – Judie Brown, president of American Life League, issued a statement today in response to an interview in which Archbishop Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's highest court, stated: "There's not a question that a Catholic who publicly, and after admonition, supports pro-abortion legislation is not to receive Holy Communion and is not to be given Holy Communion … This is a law of the universal Church and it should be applied." About the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Burke commented: "I think this argument [that this matter should be decided by the USCCB] too is being used by people who don't want to confront the issue, this whole "wait 'til the Conference decides"...well the Conference has been discussing this since at least 2004. And nothing happens… Individual bishops and priests simply have to do their duty.They have to confront politicians, Catholic politicians, who are s...

Dear Members of the Marian Catechist Apostolate, Today is the 36th Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous decision in the cases Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, by which the highest court of our nation took away the safeguard of the most fundamental of all rights, the right to life, from the most vulnerable members of the human family, the unborn. Rightly, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has, for some time, designated this day as a Day of Penance for Violations to the Dignity of the Human Person, and of Prayer for the Full Restoration of the Legal Guarantee of the Right to Life. January 22nd is to be observed “as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 373). The legacy of the just-mentioned decisions has been an unconscionable decline in the respect for all ...