ROME — The former head of the Vatican’s highest court, Cardinal Raymond Burke, has come off a ventilator and has left ICU, as his condition battling the coronavirus improves.
“The Cardinal’s family is pleased to announce that His Eminence has come off the ventilator and will leave the ICU today to return to his hospital room,” announced the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Saturday, a sanctuary in La Crosse Wisconsin founded by Burke.
“His sister spoke with him on the phone this morning, and His Eminence expressed his deep gratitude for the many prayers offered on his behalf,” the statement reads. “His family asks that we continue those prayers for his full and speedy recovery, and they are grateful to God for the exceptional medical care the Cardinal has received from the dedicated doctors and nurses who continue to assist him.”
The cardinal was an outspoken critic of church closings during the coronavirus lockdowns, insisting that churches should be considered essential (like supermarkets and pharmacies) and not optional or recreational (like cinemas and athletic games).
“In considering what is needed to live, we must not forget that our first consideration is our relationship with God,” Cardinal Burke wrote in March 2020. “That is why it is essential for us, at all times and above all in times of crisis, to have access to our churches and chapels, to the Sacraments, and to public devotions and prayers.”
It is right to “learn about and employ all of the natural means to defend ourselves against the contagion” and it is important “to use every prudent means to avoid contracting or spreading the coronavirus,” Burke declared, adding that care of bodily health should not supersede care of spiritual health, which is not less, but more important.
Burke also asserted that the coronavirus pandemic raised “serious questions” about international dependence on communist China.
“The role of the People’s Republic of China in the whole international health crisis raises many serious questions,” the cardinal wrote in May 2020. “While we as Christians love the Chinese people and want for them what is for their good, we cannot fail to recognize that their government is the embodiment of atheistic materialism or communism.”
Chinese communism “is an evil form of government which, for instance, practices forced abortions and openly violates the religious freedom of the people,” Burke declared. “It is only right to ask what ethical principles have governed the involvement of the Chinese government in the coronavirus COVID-19 international health crisis.”
Some critics of the conservative cardinal seemed to gloat when it was announced earlier this month that he had contracted the virus and had to enter ICU, implying a sort of deserved comeuppance.
Other long-time critics of the cardinal rose to the occasion to put differences aside and offer prayers for his swift recovery.
Austen Ivereigh, for example, biographer of Pope Francis who has often taken issue with Burke’s positions, took this high road of Christian charity.
For their part, friends and admirers of the cardinal offered ongoing prayers for his recovery and wrote messages of appreciation for him.
“I join in offering prayer, Mass, and fasting with good Catholic people all over the world for the quick recovery of Cardinal Burke — a dear friend, former professor, and inspiration of mine for almost forty years,” wrote Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco.
“I have always been inspired by his charity, intelligence, humility and sheer goodness coupled with his simple, child-like devotion to our Lord, our Blessed Mother, and all the saints,” Cordileone said.