Cardinal Burke: Pope Francis has spoken unambiguously on abortion, contraception, marriage

February 24, 2014

Citing remarks made by Pope Francis, Cardinal Raymond Burke emphasized that Pope has spoken “unambiguously” in defense of Catholic teaching on abortion, contraception, euthanasia, and marriage.

“It is not that the Holy Father is not clear in his opposition to abortion and euthanasia, or in his support of marriage as the indissoluble, faithful and procreative union of one man and one woman,” the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura wrote in L’Osservatore Romano. “Rather he concentrates his attention on inviting all to nurture an intimate relationship, indeed communion, with Christ, within which the non-negotiable truths, inscribed by God upon every human heart, become ever more evident and are generously embraced.”

“We should not think that such an invitation requires that we be silent about fundamental truths of the natural moral law, as if these matters were somehow peripheral to the message of the Gospel,” Cardinal Burke continued. “Rather, the proclamation of the truth of the moral law is always an essential dimension of the proclamation of the Gospel, for it is only in light of the truth of the moral law, written on every human heart, that we can recognize our need to repent from sin and accept the mercy of God offered to us in Jesus Christ.”

“In the face of a galloping de-Christianization in the West, the new evangelization, as Pope Francis underlines, must be clearly grounded in Christ crucified who alone can overcome the world for the sake of its salvation,” Cardinal Burke concluded.

 

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Further information:

• The Pope’s radical call to the new evangelization (L’Osservatore Romano, p. 6)