Burke renews attack on Kasper

In a long interview in the German newspaper Die Welt on 24 April, Cardinal Raymond Burke renewed his attack on Cardinal Walter Kasper, whose “merciful” solution for remarried divorcees who wish to receive Communion was discussed at last October’s Extraordinary Synod, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

“We are bound by the Magisterium. But some Synod Fathers, above all Cardinal Kasper, want to change it. So I had to make myself very clear,” the cardinal said. A change to church teaching at the next synod in October would mean he would “have to speak to the Holy Father and ask him how I can remain loyal to the truth and at the same time not break my vow of obedience”, he added. He also described homosexuality as an “ailment” that was not genetic but depended on a person’s social environment.