Cardinal Raymond Burke has condemned fabricated videos that portray him giving a “rebuke” of Pope Leo XIV, saying in an Oct. 21 message that these “deceptive productions” bear the mark of the Devil.
Reports of such a rebuke “are entirely false,” Cardinal Burke said in the message posted to his social media accounts. “I have made no such statements, nor have I given any address or interview even remotely resembling what is being described.”
He described the fake videos as “works of deceit produced through technological manipulation of my image” and emphasized that intentionally lying so as “to sow division within the Church is gravely sinful.”
Quoting the Gospel of John (8:44), Cardinal Burke noted that Jesus “teaches that the devil ‘was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.’”
“These falsified productions bear the unmistakable mark of the Evil One,” the cardinal continued, “who ever seeks to confuse the faithful and to set brother against brother within the Mystical Body of Christ.”
To counter this confusion with clarity, Cardinal Burke emphatically declared his “obedience, filial love, and unwavering respect for the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, the Vicar of Christ on earth.”
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He emphasized that the unity of the Church around the Vicar of Christ is essential to the Catholic faith and is willed by Jesus. He also encouraged Catholics to pay attention to the Pope’s teachings, not divisive messages that distort the truth and create scandal.
He also called for responding with faith and prayer, not “anger or suspicion,” to the situation.
“The Christian’s first recourse in every trial is always to the Heart of Jesus, who conquers falsehood by the power of His truth and love,” he concluded. “I ask you, therefore, to pray earnestly for those who create and spread such deceptions, that, touched by divine grace, they may turn from darkness to the light of truth, from the bondage of lies to the freedom of conversion, and be reconciled to God who is rich in mercy and abounding in steadfast love.”
Cardinal Burke had an audience with Pope Leo at the Vatican in August and is set to return to Rome to celebrate a Traditional Latin Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica Oct. 25.
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