Cardinal Burke: I’m happy to be called ‘fundamentalist’ if it means upholding the basics of the faith

If being a “fundamentalist” means upholding the basics of the Catholic faith, then Cardinal Raymond Burke is happy to wear the label.

“If fundamentalist means someone who insists on the basic things, I am a fundamentalist,” he told the Italian magazine Il Foglio in an interview.

“I belong to Christ,” he told Il Foglio. “I act in his person. I teach only what He teaches in his Church, because this teaching will save souls.”

Cardinal Burke dismissed the use of labels, because labeling a person, he says, disregards the truth of what the person does, but he was clear about which label he does bear. “I am a Roman Catholic,” he stated.

Cardinal Burke has spoken forthrightly during both this year’s and last year’s installment of the Synod about the importance of maintaining the truth of what the Church teaches.

Both Synod sessions have involved debate over how to minister to Catholics who are in sinful situations, such as the divorced and civilly remarried and homosexuals. Liberal prelates at the Synod have advocated for allowing Communion for individuals in these situations, while more orthodox bishops have stood up for preserving Church principles, which reserve the Eucharist for those who are not in a state of grave sin.

“There is no doubt that the confusion is already great,” he said, “and that the Church, for the good of souls and for his faithful witness to Christ in the world should clearly state its perennial teaching on the indissolubility of marriage and the Holy Communion.”

Cardinal Burke says the Church must renew its catechesis on the truth of the Eucharist as the foundation of the Catholic faith. She also must teach the truth about marriage.

“For his passion, death, resurrection and ascension, Christ has also raised the natural sacrament, as participation of divine, supernatural sacrament, conferring on married the grace to live faithfully until the end, the truth of their marital status,” he stated. “If the Church would change the teaching on the indissolubility of sacramental marriage, it would attack the sacrament of marriage as natural, marriage as God created it from the beginning.”

Cardinal Burke says it is incumbent on the priests of the Church to speak the truth to their flock, he said. “A priest who – faced with the situation of today’s culture – does not clearly announce the truth, does not practice pastoral charity,” Cardinal Burke said, “and is lacking in the witness inherent in his office.” ∎

by Lisa Bourne, LifeSite News