Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke has recently been removed from his position as Cardinal Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura (head of the Vatican's highest court), having been demoted to Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The highest ranking American Catholic official was apparently demoted because of his criticism of Pope Francis I and in particular October's Synod on the Family.
On one hand, as a former Catholic, I can't help but be amused at this turn of events for conservative Catholics. For thirty years, liberal Catholic clerics faced the possibility of being removed from prominent positions under the conservative Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. As figures such as Matthew Fox can attest, being an outspoken liberal under the previous two popes was a recipe for trouble.
Now, under Pope Francis, the shoe is on the other foot. Cardinal Burke's downfall appears to have been his criticism of the conciliatory language towards same sex couples and re-married Catholics. Already on Catholic blogs, conservatives are moaning that they are being persecuted and that Pope Francis is betraying the Church. As one comment on the Catholic News Services site whined:
I think that the Pope is cleaning house of all orthodox Cardinals. It is rumored that Cardinal Mueller is supposed to get the ax as well. I wonder if a schism is brewing? I wish I could’ve been a fly on the wall of that Papal conclave when Francis was elected
In spite of my schadenfreude, I don't think I will be rejoining the Catholic Church. Pope Francis's appointment is a matter of too little, too late. For one thing, no matter how refreshing the leadership at the top might be, the Catholic Church is still laden with hidebound, conservative leadership thanks to thirty years of conservative papacy. One doubts Pope Francis will be able to overcome this institutional inertia, unless he is very long-lived and manages to outlast most previous popes' appointees.
More importantly, I've come to the conclusion that the Church's main problem is institutional-literally. By becoming an institution rather than a faith community, the Church, centuries ago, condemned itself to be hidebound, preserving its dogmas rather than learning from Christ's ongoing revelation. More damningly, as an institution it became committed to self-preservation, with horrifying consequences as demonstrated by recent scandals.