Cardinal Burke: Synodality ‘has to be stopped’ and thoroughly reexamined

Cardinal Raymond Burke urged Pope Leo XIV to halt the synodality process, calling it ‘iniquitous’ and observing it lacks definition and historical precedent in the Church.

(LifeSiteNews) — In a wide-ranging interview after Pope Leo XIV’s second extraordinary consistory of cardinals held June 26-27, Cardinal Raymond Burke delivered a forceful critique of the Vatican’s ongoing emphasis on synodality, calling for it to be halted and subjected to rigorous study. “We have to insist that this whole synodality business stop,” the cardinal declared.

“And there be a very serious study done of the whole matter because we’re talking about the very life of the Church and we’re talking about the salvation of souls.” Speaking to The College of Cardinals Report on June 28 but released Wednesday, Burke began with a note of appreciation for the gathering convened by the new pontiff. “The Cardinals are certainly all grateful that the Pope convenes us again, which hadn’t happened for so many years during the pontificate of Pope Francis,” he said.

“The Cardinals are speaking more with one another. We’re getting to know each other more and that’s a very great fruit.” Yet he quickly pivoted to fundamental concerns about the consistory’s structure.

Participants were instructed that the meeting “has now to be conformed to synodality.” This meant abandoning the traditional open debate among cardinals in favor of small tables following preset questions. “Each one comments and, to me, we don’t get to the heart of matters in depth.”

Reports reflected only points of consensus, Burke explained. “The reports are only ... of what every Cardinal agreed upon. And so, a Cardinal brings up something that maybe others didn’t agree with.

But it could be very true and important for the Pope to hear. That doesn’t get reported to him.” No definition to ‘synodality,’ and ‘no history of it in the Church’ The final session returned to the classic format with free interventions in the Pope’s presence.

“To me, that was the most productive session of the consistory,” Burke noted. He described the overall process as “very controlled,” with presidents and secretaries of each small group apparently being preselected rather than chosen by the groups themselves. At the core of Burke’s objection is the lack of theological grounding for synodality.

“There is no definition of synodality. There’s no history of it in the Church,” he stated emphatically. One cardinal highlighted the “synchronic” contemporary focus versus the missing “diachronic” historical dimension.

Burke warned of the danger: “It’s one thing for the Church to address the world, but it’s another thing if the Church is conforming itself to the world, to a worldly way of thinking. And there is this whole discourse about ‘change of paradigm.’ They keep invoking that, that there’s been a paradigm shift.

Well, the Church doesn’t have paradigm shifts. The Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic.” ‘Iniquitous’: Synodality process ‘has to be stopped’ In his own intervention, Burke targeted Synod Study Group 9’s report on doctrine and morals, particularly its treatment of the “homosexual condition.”

He argued it “calls into question what the Church has always taught about sexual morality.” The report, he said, included testimony falsely accusing the Courage apostolate — which he has supported since the 1980s — of shortcomings that Burke called “simply not the case.” “How in the world could the Church, in a report given out throughout the Church, not check to see if what that witness ... said about Courage was true, but they didn’t,” he admonished.

The native priest and bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, instead stressed objective truth, stating “the truth is about the nature of things and their proper ends, and not about inclinations that I have, or desires, or projects that I have” which are “very subjective” and can therefore be impacted by original sin. Under such conditions one has the temptation to “reconform the teaching of the Church” to their own desires or inclinations, the cardinal warned. Yet all of us “find our happiness” in understanding “the truth about ourselves and about the world and about our proper finality.”

Burke expressed alarm that the report has already emboldened “even bishops (and) archbishops” to encourage “the LGBTQ+ agenda, saying, ‘look, the Church is changing its teaching.’” Burke labeled plans to circulate the study groups’ suggestions to dioceses as “iniquitous. That should not happen.”

The process, he insisted, “has to be stopped, and it has to be completely studied and reoriented so that” it remains “completely faithful to what the Church teaches and to the holiness of the Church’s life.” TLM ‘an eternal good in the Church,’ ‘should be allowed freely’ Internal Church issues received insufficient attention amid discussions of the “wounds of the world.” Burke highlighted the impending Society of St. Pius X episcopal consecrations as a looming schismatic act carrying automatic excommunication, noting the need for pastoral provisions like those of St. John Paul II in 1988.

He also decried Traditionis Custodes as “really a persecution of the Traditional Latin Mass,” confirming that “there can be no question in anybody’s mind, and Pope Benedict XVI made it so clear: (the vetus ordo) is an eternal good in the Church, a form of the Roman Rite that was celebrated for more than 15 centuries. And it’s simply so beautiful and the faithful are nourished spiritually by this form of the Latin Rite. This should be allowed freely.”

He additionally advocated for a dedicated dicastery to support these faithful communities, known for their large families and commitment to handing on the faith. Burke observed that topics such as the German bishops’ situation, the SSPX crisis, and the Traditional Latin Mass were largely sidelined, with the “homosexual lobby in the Church” not discussed at all either. He reminded listeners that a consistory is meant for candid advice to the Pope, unlike a synod.

Christ ‘will protect the Church, but we have to do our part’ Despite these concerns, Cardinal Burke voiced confidence in divine protection: “I’m confident Our Lord will protect the Church, but we have to do our part to say, ‘no, this concept of synodality ... is fundamentally flawed.’” He urged a path of wisdom and courage, concluding, “Our Lord is always head of his Church. And we stay with him and we don’t go off in other directions because we’re unhappy with the way things are in the Church,” understanding “that he will make it all right.”

RELATED: