Pope’s words twisted, says cardinal

As Pope Francis led the world’s cardinals at talks in Rome, a senior American cardinal took to the pages of the Vatican newspaper to reassure conservatives that Francis remains opposed to abortion and gay marriage.

Cardinal Raymond Burke acknowledged that the pope has said the church “cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage, and the use of contraceptive methods.” But in a toughly worded column in L’Osservatore Romano on February 21, the former archbishop of St. Louis blasted those “whose hearts are hardened against the truth” for trying to twist Francis’s words to their own ends.

Burke, an outspoken conservative who has headed the Vatican’s highest court since 2008, said Francis in fact strongly backs the church’s teaching on those topics. He said the pope is simply trying to find ways to convince people to hear the church’s message despite “galloping de-Christianization in the West.”