RIGHTIST U.S. CARDINAL LEADS CRUSADE VS CATHOLIC JOE BIDEN

Defeated US President Donald Trump may as well hitch his wagon to that of conservative American Cardinal Raymond Burke if he wants to sabotage the incoming administration. Burke has been attacking President-elect Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, as an anti-Catholic not fit to lead the nation, Barbie Latza Nadeau reported for the Daily Beast.

In the months leading up to the election, Burke was on a campaign of his own, curiously stumping for the thrice-married incumbent President Trump while pleading that Biden is “not a Catholic in good standing” over his views on abortion and birth control. Burke said Biden should not receive communion at Catholic mass and should not tout his faith. “I don’t understand why Catholics who are involved in politics can’t get this straight in their heads, but they should,” Burke told the Catholic Action for Faith and Family association, for which Burke is a spiritual adviser, in an interview that was run by the popular conservative Catholic website Lifesite. “If someone says, ‘I’m a devout Catholic,’ and at the same time is promoting abortion, it gives the impression to others that it’s acceptable for Catholics to be in favor of abortion. And of course, it’s absolutely not acceptable. Never has been. Never will be.”

Biden is not Burke’s only target. He has also condemned Pope Francis for his recent remarks on extending civil rights to same-sex couples. Burke, whose office did not respond to multiple requests for comments, accused Francis last month of inciting “error and confusion with words that do not correspond to the constant teachings of the Church,” when the pope commented in a documentary that he supported legal rights for gays. “To speak of a homosexual union, in the same sense as the conjugal union of the married, is misleading, because there can be no such union.”

The pope did not respond directly to Burke’s criticism of himself or the president-elect, but he did call Biden Friday to congratulate him. In a readout of the call, which was confirmed by the Holy See press office, the Biden-Harris transition team said Biden “thanked His Holiness for extending blessings and congratulations and noted his appreciation for His Holiness' leadership in promoting peace, reconciliation, and the common bonds of humanity around the world.” The two then discussed shared interests including “caring for the marginalized and the poor, addressing the crisis of climate change, and welcoming and integrating immigrants and refugees into our communities.”