ROME – The cardinals are originally, and still ceremonially, the clergy of the Church of Rome: the bishops of the suffragan dioceses, the parish priests, and the deacons attendant upon the Roman Pontiff. Most cardinals are cardinal priests. The word “priest” means “elder”, like the Latin word “senator”, and the cardinals have often been compared to, and even treated as, the spiritual Roman senate. The word “deacon” means “minister”, and departments of the Roman Curia are called “dicasteries” — which means “ministries”, even though, in theory, they are the most junior members of the College.
The primary function of the Sacred College is to advise the Bishop of Rome. Accordingly, a cardinal residing in Rome is supplied with an apartment to allow him to be attendant upon the pope and to give him counsel when desired or needed. Many have said, however, that counsel in the current pontificate has been more often needed than desired. Since a fateful meeting in 2015 when, it is said, significant opposition was freely expressed to the plan to extend Communion to the divorced and remarried, Pope Francis has refused to allow the conventional open plenary sessions in which the cardinals can freely advise him in private.
Controversy arose recently after reports emerged that Pope Francis had decided to deprive US Cardinal Raymond Burke, 75, of his subsidised Vatican apartment and stipend because he sees him as working “against the Church”. The story originally broke from a quarter favourable to the cardinal but was then corroborated by a source close to Pope Francis, papal biographer and pillar of the liberal establishment, Austen Ivereigh, who claims to have spoken to Francis personally – while Cardinal Burke had not been informed. The Catholic Herald contacted Cardinal Burke’s office and was told he has not received any formal communication and is not making a statement at this time.
Cardinal Burke continues to serve as a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura and Dicastery for Saints. His residence is located close to St Peter’s, in the Palazzo dei Propilei, an extraterritorial building belonging to the Holy See, as regulated by the Lateran Treaty. Although subsidised, his apartment is not “rent-free” (the only place Cardinal Burke seems to live rent-free is in Pope Francis’s head).
Cardinals who do not have a See under their jurisdiction receive a monthly stipend until death. While they hold an office, it could be viewed as a salary. After they resign their office, it could be considered a retirement benefit. Called in Italian the piatto cardinalizio, and continuing as long as a cardinal lives, it allows him to provide for himself and his responsibilities as a cardinal. As Cardinal Burke has reached the mandatory age of retirement and does not hold any office from which he needs to retire, the stipend he has been receiving is a retirement benefit.
It is still unclear whether Pope Francis is also depriving Cardinal Burke of his Vatican health benefits, known as the Fondo Assistenza Sanitaria or FAS. The Catholic Herald has asked Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni about this matter but has not yet received a reply. According to Ivereigh’s account, “Francis told [him] he had decided to remove Cardinal Burke’s cardinal privileges – his apartment and salary – because he had been using those privileges against the Church.”
New York priest and canonist Fr Gerald Murray responded: “A pension is not a privilege; it is deferred compensation which is owed in justice. Vatican subsidised living quarters are provided to cardinals and other curial officials as a form of compensation for their work for the Holy See. It is not a privilege, as in something given as a pure gift. This arrangement is convenient for both the Holy See and for the curial officials. It permits the Holy See to save money by not having to pay market-rate salaries to curial officials who would have to pay market rates for apartments.”
“The claim that Cardinal Burke has been using his compensation to act ‘against the Church’ can only be fairly made in the public sphere if the incidents of such anti-Church actions are identified,” Fr Murray said. “I am unaware of any actions that Cardinal Burke has taken to harm the Church. Supposing that Pope Francis is not mistaken in judging that Cardinal Burke has committed such actions, let them be known so that Cardinal Burke can offer a defence against such serious charges. If Pope Francis finds him guilty of such malfeasance, it is unclear to me how financial penalties are appropriate measures to remedy such faults. Canonical sanctions imposed as a result of a canonical process would satisfy the demands of justice and fairness.”
Many believe Pope Francis’s decision to punish Cardinal Burke will have a chilling effect on the College of Cardinals, dissuading them from giving honest advice and counsel to the Pope – but perhaps that’s the idea.
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