Mercy Strikes Again: The Unjust Treatment of Cardinal Burke, by Diane Montagna

ROME – The cardinals are originally, and still ceremonially, the clergy of the Church of Rome: the bishops of the suffragan dioceses, the parish priests, and the deacons attendant upon the Roman Pontiff. Most cardinals are cardinal priests. The word “priest” means “elder”, like the Latin word “senator”, and the cardinals have often been compared to, and even treated as, the spiritual Roman senate. The word “deacon” means “minister”, and departments of the Roman Curia are called “dicasteries” — which means “ministries”, even though, in theory, they are the most junior members of the College.

The primary function of the Sacred College is to advise the Bishop of Rome. Accordingly, a cardinal residing in Rome is supplied with an apartment to allow him to be attendant upon the pope and to give him counsel when desired or needed. Many have said, however, that counsel in the current pontificate has been more often needed than desired. …

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