Pope Francis has confirmed to a blogger he collaborates with that he, indeed, plans to punish Cardinal Raymond Burke by removing him from his Vatican apartment and stripping him of his salary.
The Pope's move against Burke, after a string of attacks on traditionalists, has spurred a backlash from Roman Catholic observers and media outlets that cover the papacy.
Pope Francis' biographer Austen Ivereigh posted to X on Monday that the Pontiff was imposing the sanctions against Burke because the American conservative was using "privileges against the Church."
The Pope informed the dicastery heads of his decision on Nov. 20, in a private meeting that was leaked to an Italian newspaper, La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, which also reported Pope Francis saying that Burke was "his enemy."
"I never used the word 'enemy' nor the pronoun 'my,'" Francis told Ivereigh in a follow-up note Tuesday.
As of Wednesday, a source close to Cardinal Burke told Newsmax he has yet to be officially notified regarding the Pope's statements about his salary and residence.
"People can draw their own conclusions about why the Holy Father told this to Austen Ivereigh and not the person concerned," Burke told The Wall Street Journal, adding that he would not leave Rome, even if it meant finding other lodging.
"It's my duty as a cardinal to remain in Rome," he told the Journal.
Burke, like other cardinals in Rome, lives in his apartment rent free and receives a monthly stipend of $5,500.
Supporters of Francis see the rebuke of Burke as a long time coming over his criticisms of the Pope.
But Francis has continually said that he is open to dialogue dissent within the church, but he has taken harsh punitive steps against traditionalists that have criticized him.
In 2022, the Pope laicized Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, the nation's leading pro-life priest advocate.
Earlier this month, Francis had Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Tex. removed from his diocese.
Strickland had been critical of the Pope's efforts to allow blessings of gay civil unions and other matters. Strickland also continued allowing the Latin Mass in his diocese, which the Pope had banned.
Burke and other conservatives have spoken critically about Francis, suggesting he has confused Catholics with statements regarding his stance on blessings for gay couples, Communion for divorced and remarried people, and most recently his concept of "synodality."
Others see the strike on Burke as part of Francis' well-known "vindictiveness."
"I had resisted posting early reports of this story, because I thought they couldn't possibly be true," Raymond Arroyo, anchor at the Catholic cable network EWTN, posted to his X page.
"We have reached a new level of papal vindictiveness," he added.
Michael Matt, editor of the traditionalist Catholic newspaper The Remnant, said that the Pope's "effort to dismantle the Catholic Church is, apparently, to personally become the most detestable Pope in history."
"He seems to be actively stoking the contempt of every practicing Catholic in the world, while vainly courting the favor of transsexuals and married gay dudes everywhere. He's become an angry and truly annoying old man!" Matt posted to X.
The Pope, ailing at 86, has taken a number of surprising positions often at odds with official church teachings.
Last year, Francis appointed a pro-abortion economist, Mariana Mazzucato, to the Pontifical Academy for Life, in a move that shocked even some of his supporters.
Vatican insiders suggest Francis has ramped up his attacks on traditionalists as his "Synod of Synodality" seeks to conclude next year with what many expect to be massive changes to the church's moral teachings.
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