Remember the worldwide scandal involving the firing of the number two man in the Vatican by Pope Francis? Rachel Maddow explains, and it bodes well for humanity.
As The New Civil Rights Movement reported last month, Pope Francis I fired the Vatican’s top judge, the number two man in the entire Roman Catholic Church hierarchy. Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American so viciously anti-gay, just weeks earlier he had instructed parents to not let their children have any contact with gay people who engage in “evil, wrong,” and “disordered” relationships.
LOOK:Â Conservative Leaders Push Catholic Church To Backtrack On Gays
Cardinal Burke had been the Archbishop of St. Louis before Pope Benedict XVI promoted him to Rome. And until recently, when Pope Francis demoted him to a position with zero responsibility, he served as the Cardinal Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. In other words, think of him as America’s Chief Justice John Roberts.
Back in October, before almost any other mainstream media outlet reported, The New Civil Rights Movement published an intimate look at the ouster of Cardinal Burke.
LOOK: Pope Ousts Top Vatican Judge Known For Incendiary Anti-Gay Comments
Last night, Rachel Maddow took another look at the story behind the firing of Cardinal Burke, with insight from Religion News Service’s editor-in-chief, Kevin Eckstrom, who calls Burke’s ouster “a very public firing.”
After reviewing Burke’s outspoken attacks against American Democrats, including John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Barack Obamaa, and Sheryl Crow, (yes, Sheryl Crow,) Maddow dug in deep.
Eckstrom said that Pope Francis has made clear he plans to make the Church less conservative on social issues, and anyone who gets in his way will be gone.
Calling the firing “a signal” to other cardinals, Eckstrom says, “this is a very powerful power play” with the goal of Pope Francis getting his way on opening communion to divorced and remarried Catholics.
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Image: Screenshot via MSNBC