Raymond Leo Burke (born June 30, 1948) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 2014 to 2023. He previously served as Archbishop of St. Louis from 2004 to 2008 and Bishop of La Crosse from 1995 to 2004. From 2008 to 2014, he was the prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. He was made a cardinal in 2010.
A canon lawyer, Burke is a major voice of traditionalism among prelates of the Catholic Church. He established a reputation as a conservative leader while serving in La Crosse and St. Louis. Burke is a major proponent of the Tridentine Mass, having frequently offered it and conferred ordinations on traditionalist priests. He has criticized what he sees as deficiencies in the post-1969 Mass of Paul VI. He is frequently seen as a de facto leader of the church's conservative wing by some mainstream media outlets.
Burke publicly clashed with Pope Francis, vigorously opposing attempts by other bishops to relax attitudes towards LGBTQ people and Catholics who have divorced and remarried outside the Catholic Church. Burke opposes euthanasia, and has opined that Catholic politicians who support legalized abortion, including former President Joe Biden, should not receive the Eucharist. While Burke denied allegations of disloyalty to Pope Francis, a number of Burke's statements were interpreted as criticisms, once mentioning the possible need to "formally correct" the pope in relation to Amoris laetitia. This has led to a backlash from some Catholics towards Burke.
In September 2015, the Vatican announced that Burke had been reappointed to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, from which he had been removed in December 2013, but not to his more influential positions on the Congregation for Bishops and the Apostolic Signatura. In 2016, he was not reappointed as a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship. In February 2017, Burke was again sidelined when Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu as his special delegate to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, with exclusive responsibility for the duties which would normally be exercised by Burke as its patron. Albrecht von Boeselager, the order's grand chancellor, announced that this meant Burke was "de facto suspended" from the patronage. Pope Francis reappointed him as a rank-and-file member of the Apostolic Signatura in September 2017. In November 2023, Pope Francis reportedly evicted Burke from his subsidized Vatican apartment and removed his salary as a retired cardinal.
Early life Burke was born on June 30, 1948, in Richland Center, Wisconsin, the youngest of the six children of Thomas F. and Marie B. Burke. He is of Irish heritage with ancestors from counties Cork and Tipperary. Burke attended St. Mary's Parish School in Richland Center from 1954 to 1959."Cardinal Burke blesses, breaks ground for school addition in Richland Center", The Catholic Times (Diocese of La Crosse), Joseph O' Brien, August 9, 2012, p. 11. The family later moved to Stratford, Wisconsin. Having decided to become a priest, Burke entered Holy Cross Seminary in 1962 in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
After finishing at Holy Cross, Burke enrolled at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., as a Basselin scholar in 1968. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970 and a Master of Arts degree in 1971, both in philosophy.
Burke then travelled to Rome in 1971 to study theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was awarded a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree and a Master of Arts degree. While in Rome, Burke resided at the Pontifical North American College; he was classmates there with ten future bishops and two future cardinals – Blase J. Cupich and James Harvey.
Priestly ministry Pope Paul VI ordained Burke to the priesthood for the Diocese of La Crosse on June 29, 1975, in Rome at St. Peter's Basilica.
After his ordination to the priesthood, Burke returned to La Crosse. The diocese assigned him as assistant rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse. He also taught religion at Aquinas High School in La Crosse."Cardinal Burke at Aquinas today", La Crosse (WI), Tribune, January 5, 2011."Cardinal Burke celebrates Mass at Aquinas High School-ACS rededicates Aquinas addition as Cardinal Burke Hall", Joseph O'Brien, The Catholic Times (Diocese of La Crosse), January 13, 2011, p. 3. Burke went back to Rome in 1980 to study canon law at the Gregorian University. It awarded him a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1982 and a Doctorate in Canon Law in 1984.
Back in La Crosse, Bishop John Joseph Paul named Burke as moderator of the curia and vice chancellor of the diocese. In 1989, Pope John Paul II named Burke the first American defender of the bond of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest ecclesiastical court in the Catholic Church.
Episcopal ministry
Bishop of La Crosse On December 10, 1994, John Paul II appointed Burke as bishop of La Crosse and consecrated him on January 6, 1995, at St. Peter's Basilica. Burke took possession of the see of La Crosse on February 22, 1995.
In 2000, Burke convened the fifth diocesan synod, which resulted in the publication of Synod V, acts: celebrated June 11–14, 2000 in 2003.Synod V, acts: celebrated June 11–14, 2000. La Crosse, Wis.: Diocese of La Crosse, 2003. In 2002, he was influential in founding the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem, an order of Augustinian canons dedicated to the Tridentine Mass, the traditional form of the liturgy in the Latin Church.
Two anonymous priests in the Diocese of La Crosse said that Burke's leadership was divisive. People in his diocese had divided opinions of him. One such example was the construction of the $25 million Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, with critics saying that the money used should have gone to the poor. Burke defended the expenditure on the shrine, describing it as a fruitful way to raise spiritual devotion. Another was the diocese's withdrawal from Church World Service's annual Crop Walk because some of the money raised was being used to purchase condoms in developing countries. Burke also welcomed numerous traditional orders to his diocese, including the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP), whose priests offer exclusively the Tridentine Mass. The parish that the ICKSP established under Burke was its first apostolate in the United States. Two priests left the diocese as a result of his policies.
Burke closed a number of schools while raising teachers' salaries. His style was noted by some of his aides to be more formal than that of his predecessor, Bishop Paul, although his aides described him as amiable and approachable in private. During his tenure, the diocese continued to participate in charitable efforts while increasing its moral and political activism.
Archbishop of St. Louis
On December 2, 2003, Burke was named archbishop of St. Louis, succeeding Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali, who had been appointed archbishop of Philadelphia."Burke named archbishop of St. Louis", La Crosse Tribune. "Burke bids farewell", La Crosse Tribune. He was installed on January 26, 2004, and was presented with the pallium on June 29, 2004, by Pope John Paul II. In St. Louis, Burke emphasized the promotion of vocations to the priesthood. He also published a column in the archdiocesan weekly newspaper, the Saint Louis Review. In both La Crosse and St. Louis, Burke established oratories for those desiring to worship according to the traditional form. As he had done in La Crosse, he invited the Institute of Christ the King (ICKSP) into his diocese and ordained priests for the group both in the U.S. and abroad. His ordination of two ICKSP priests on June 15, 2007, in a Solemn Pontifical High Mass marked the first time in 40 years that the Tridentine rite of ordination had been used in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis."First ordinations in the United States" , institute-christ-king.org newsletter, p. 2, July 2007.
During his tenure, Burke escalated a long-running dispute over the attempted closing of a church in the diocese, St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, and the ownership of its significant assets. After the Reverend Marek Bozek led a Christmas Eve Mass in 2005 despite the archdiocese's previous attempted closure of the parish, Burke "declare[d] that the church was in 'schism'", a designation that led to the excommunication of Bozek and the church's lay board. In 2012, the St. Louis Circuit Court ruled against the diocese. It awarded it full ownership of the significant parish assets to St. Stanislaus Kostka, now an independent church, with the judge stating that "The archbishop may own the souls of wayward St. Stanislaus parishioners, but the St. Stanislaus Parish Corporation owns its own property".
Positions in the Roman Curia
Appointments by Pope Benedict XVI Between 2008 and 2011, Benedict XVI named Burke to the following positions in the Roman Curia:
May 6, 2008 – member of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which interprets canon law, and of the Congregation for the Clergy, which regulates the formation and training of diocesan priests and deacons."Pope appoints Burke to two high church offices He'll help interpret church law and help regulated training of priests and deacons", Tim Townsend, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 7, 2008. October 7, 2008 – president of the Commission for Advocates, which admits canon lawyers to a registry of those who may practice in the Vatican's courts."Archbishop Burke appointed to head Vatican's 'bar association' " Catholic News Agency, October 8, 2008. October 17, 2009 – member of the Congregation for Bishops, which oversees the appointment of most Latin Church bishops outside mission territories; July 6, 2010 – member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; July 24, 2010 – member of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints; January 29, 2011 – member of the Council of Cardinals and Bishops of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State.Nomina di membri del Consiglio di Cardinali e Vescovi della Sezione per i Rapporti con gli Stati della Segreteria di Stato
College of Cardinals
On November 20, 2010, Benedict XVI made Burke Cardinal-Deacon of the Sant'Agata dei Goti Church in Rome. He became the fifth archbishop of St. Louis to become a cardinal. On February 5, 2011, Burke took canonical possession of Sant'Agata dei Goti."Cardinals Take Possession Of Diaconate, Titular Churches ", EWTN News, February 1, 2011.
In October 2012, Burke was appointed as president of the Commission for Controversies at the 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Burke was a cardinal elector who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis.
On December 16, 2013, Francis made extensive changes to the Congregation for Bishops, the influential Vatican department that oversees the selection and assignment of bishops; he did not reappoint Burke as a member. Some speculated this reflected the fact that Burke takes "a more aggressive line than the pope on the Western culture wars". According to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Burke's removal happened due to the influence of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, but this claim has not been independently verified.
After ten years as cardinal deacon, Burke exercised his option to assume the rank of cardinal priest; Francis confirmed it on May 3, 2021. In November 2023, Francis reportedly evicted Burke from his subsidized apartment at the Vatican and terminated his salary as a retired cardinal. Burke was once again a cardinal elector in the 2025 papal conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.
Apostolic Signatura