Cdl Burke: "If a Pope would Formally Profess Heresy he would Cease, by that Act, to be Pope. It's Automatic"
On December 19, in an interview with The Catholic World Report, Cardinal Burke said Pope Francis were he to "formally profess heresy" would "cease to be Pope. It's automatic." Burke said only members of the College of Cardinals are competent to declare Pope Francis to be in heresy. If Pope Francis ceased to be Pope because he formally professed heresy and was declared a heretic by the Cardinals then the same discipline or rules that happened when Pope Benedict XVI resigned from the papacy would be followed according to Cardinal Burke. The Cardinal, also, said: "I am not saying Pope Francis is in heresy. " However, Burke said there can't be a pastoral situation for the divorced and remarried to receive communion. That pastoral situation "doesn't honor the truth taught by Christ Himself in the Gospel." The Cardinal, moreover, said Pope Francis's Amoris Laetitia is ambiguous to permit "a practice which has never been