Anti-vax Cardinal Said ‘God, Not The State, Is The Ultimate Provider Of Health’. He Is Now On A Ventilator, Fighting COVID-19

CATHOLICS are being asked to pray the Rosary for 73-year-old Cardinal Raymond Burke, above, who has been placed on a ventilator at a hospital in Wisconsin.

The National Catholic Reporter said today (Monday) that it is “unclear” whether Burke, “a conservative prelate and outspoken skeptic of the COVID-19 vaccine”, had received a vaccination.

Speaking at the May 2020 Rome Life Forum, Burke said that:

Vaccination itself cannot be imposed, in a totalitarian manner, on citizens.

He also quoted groups that suggested that COVID-19 vaccines inject “a kind of microchip” that allow citizens to:

Be controlled by the state regarding health and about other matters which we can only imagine.

The cardinal also said that “it is never morally justified to develop a vaccine through the use of the cell lines of aborted fetuses,” adding that:

The state us not the ultimate provider of health. God is.

A message from Burke’s Twitter account said the cardinal is being assisted by a ventilator in Wisconsin, where he was a bishop from 1994 to 2005. It added that Burke:

Faithfully prayed the Rosary for those suffering from the virus. On this Vigil of the Assumption, let us now pray the Rosary for him.

August 15 marks the Feast of the Assumption, when Catholics celebrate the ascent of the Virgin Mary into heaven.

On August 10, Burke tweeted the news that he had tested positive but was:

Resting comfortably and receiving excellent medical care.

The NCR reported that Burke was often seen walking in Rome, where he lives, often maskless but always with his rosary in hand.

As yet, there are no reported cases of rosaries fending off viruses.

Born in Wisconsin, Burke served as bishop of the diocese of La Crosse from 1995 to 2004 and later became the archbishop of St Louis. In 2008 he was summoned to Rome to act as prefect of the Vatican’s Apostolic Signatura, the highest judicial authority at the Vatican after the pope, until Pope Francis accepted his resignation in 2014.

He has occupied several influential positions at the Vatican, but has frequently clashed with Francis. In 2016, he signed a letter with other three prelates questioning the pope’s cautious opening for divorced and remarried couples to receive Communion following spiritual accompaniment expressed in his Apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”).

It a lot less entertaining than The Gay Man’s Kama Sutra, written by the former President of the National Secular Society, my long-time friend Terry Sanderson.

Hat tip: Stephen Harvie