THE arch-conservative US prelate Cardinal Raymond Burke has claimed that people in Ireland are worse than pagans in overwhelmingly passing the referendum that will enshrine same-sex marriages in the Constitution.
As equality activists across the world congratulated the country on its decision, a number of senior Catholics have voiced varying shades of disapproval – with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, claiming the result is a “defeat for humanity”.
Cardinal Raymond Burke, who is from Wisconsin in the US and of Irish heritage, made his remarks while speaking in Britain to the Catholic group the Newman Society at Oxford University.
He said: “I mean, this is a defiance of God. It’s just incredible. Pagans may have tolerated homosexual behaviour, they never dared to say this was marriage.”
Cardinal Burke was demoted last year by Pope Francis from his position as prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the final court of appeal for any ecclesiastical judgement, in a move that was prompted, it is believed, by his hardline views.
Nonetheless the prelate continues to be influential within the Church and has been spoken of as a possible future Pope, were the Church to take a lurch back to conservative values.
But his remarks contrast with those of the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, who believes the Church should reflect on its direction.
“The Church needs a reality check right across the board - and to ask have we drifted away completely from young people?” he said.
