Age, Biography, and Wiki
Raymond Leo Burke was born on June 30, 1948, in Richland Center, Wisconsin, making him 76 years old as of 2025. He is a prelate of the Catholic Church and has served in various high-profile roles, including as Archbishop of St. Louis from 2004 to 2008. Burke is widely recognized for his traditionalist theological stance and his prominent positions in the Vatican, most notably as patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. His leadership and teachings have placed him at the center of both admiration and controversy within the Church.
| Occupation | Religious Leader |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 30 June 1948 |
| Age | 77 Years |
| Birth Place | Richland Center, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Cancer |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is no verified public information available regarding Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke’s height, weight, or body measurements. As a senior church leader, his public image is shaped by his ecclesiastical duties rather than personal physical attributes.
| Height | |
| Weight | |
| Body Measurements | |
| Eye Color | |
| Hair Color |
Dating & Relationship Status
As a Roman Catholic cardinal, Raymond Leo Burke is committed to a life of celibacy as required by his religious vocation. There is no public information indicating any romantic relationships or dating history.
Burke previously chaired the advisory board of the Institute for Human Dignity, a Catholic-inspired non-governmental organization based in Rome. Burke terminated his relationship with the institute in June 2019 amid its being identified increasingly publicly with the political program of Steve Bannon.
Burke is widely viewed as a leader of the conservative wing of the church, and de facto leader in the United States to those that oppose the reforms under Francis. Shortly after Francis did not reappoint him to the Congregation of Bishops, Burke said:"One gets the impression, or it's interpreted this way in the media, that he thinks we're talking too much about abortion, too much about the integrity of marriage as between one man and one woman. But we can never talk enough about that."Burke has denied media perceptions that Francis planned to change the Catholic Church's teaching on moral issues. He said that people "hardened against the truth" would claim that Francis wanted to change church teachings that today's secularized culture rejects. He also said "their false praise of the Holy Father's approach mocks the fact that he is the Successor of Saint Peter", and that he consequently "rejects the acceptance and praise of the world". Francis spoke favorably of Burke in 2017, saying, "I do not see Cardinal Burke as an enemy." He also called Burke "an excellent lawyer."
In an interview in October 2014, Burke referred to gay relationships as "profoundly disordered and harmful", stating that parents should not "expose [their] children to that." He suggested that parents should not allow their children to have contact with sexually active gay people and should discourage them from attending family gatherings such as celebrations at Christmas. He has described homosexuality as an "ailment" which is not genetic but largely depended on a person's environment. Shortly after he argued that Pope Francis had never said that positive elements could be found in homosexual acts, adding that it was "impossible to find positive elements in an evil act."
In June 2018, Burke condemned the family separation policy of the Trump administration, saying, "A solution to the situation has to be found which avoids this practice of separating small children from their parents, that's clear."
| Parents | |
| Husband | |
| Sibling | |
| Children |
Net Worth and Salary
Reports in 2024 indicated that Cardinal Burke owns property worth approximately $50 million in his home country of the United States. However, these figures have not been independently confirmed and should be interpreted with caution, as estimates for clerical net worth are often difficult to ascertain and may be exaggerated.
Regarding salary, Burke previously received a Vatican monthly stipend, but in late 2023, Pope Francis announced plans to withdraw Cardinal Burke’s Vatican salary and asked him to begin paying market rent for his Vatican apartment. The apartment, reportedly between 400–500 square meters, would cost between 8,000 and 12,000 euros per month—far exceeding a cardinal’s typical monthly salary of about 4,500 euros. Recent reports suggest that Burke’s living expenses are being supported by wealthy American donors.
In September 2015, the Vatican announced that Burke had been reappointed to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, from which he had been removed in December 2013, but not to his more influential positions on the Congregation for Bishops and the Apostolic Signatura. In 2016, he was not reappointed as a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship. In February 2017, Burke was again sidelined when Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu as his special delegate to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, with exclusive responsibility for the duties which would normally be exercised by Burke as its patron. Albrecht von Boeselager, the order's grand chancellor, announced that this meant Burke was "de facto suspended" from the patronage. Pope Francis reappointed him as a rank-and-file member of the Apostolic Signatura in September 2017. In November 2023, Pope Francis reportedly evicted Burke from his subsidized Vatican apartment and removed his salary as a retired cardinal.
After ten years as cardinal deacon, Burke exercised his option to assume the rank of cardinal priest; Francis confirmed it on May 3, 2021. In November 2023, Francis evicted Burke from his subsidized apartment at the Vatican and terminated his salary as a retired cardinal.
Career, Business, and Investments
Career Highlights:
- Priesthood and Early Ministry: Ordained as a priest in 1975, Burke served in his home diocese before pursuing further studies in Rome.
- Bishop and Archbishop: Appointed Bishop of La Crosse in 1994 and later Archbishop of St. Louis in 2004.
- Vatican Service: Transferred to the Vatican in 2008, where he served as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura (the Church’s highest judicial authority) until 2014.
- Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Held this prestigious position from 2014 onward.
- Current Status: Continues to be an influential conservative voice within the Church, often engaged in theological and liturgical debates.
In St. Louis, Burke emphasized the promotion of vocations to the priesthood. He also published a column in the archdiocesan weekly newspaper, the Saint Louis Review. In both La Crosse and St. Louis, Burke established oratories for those desiring to worship according to the traditional form. As he had done in La Crosse, he invited the Institute of Christ the King (ICKSP) into his diocese and ordained priests for the group both in the U.S. and abroad. His ordination of two ICKSP priests on June 15, 2007, in a Solemn Pontifical High Mass marked the first time in 40 years that the Tridentine rite of ordination had been used in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.
During his tenure, Burke escalated a long-running dispute over the attempted closing of a church in the diocese, St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, and the ownership of its significant assets. After the Reverend Marek Bozek led a Christmas Eve Mass in 2005 despite the archdiocese's previous attempted closure of the parish, Burke "declare[d] that the church was in 'schism'", a designation that led to the excommunication of Bozek and the church's lay board. In 2012, the St. Louis Circuit Court ruled against the diocese. It awarded it full ownership of the significant parish assets to St. Stanislaus Kostka, now an independent church, with the judge stating that "The archbishop may own the souls of wayward St. Stanislaus parishioners, but the St. Stanislaus Parish Corporation owns its own property".
In September 2017, Francis reappointed Burke as a rank and file member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, but he did not regain his earlier position as prefect.
On June 10, 2019, Burke, Cardinal Jānis Pujats, and Kazakh bishops Tomasz Peta, Jan Paul Lenga, and Athanasius Schneider published a 40-point "Declaration of Truths" claiming to reaffirm traditional church teaching. The bishops wrote that such a declaration was necessary in a time of "almost universal doctrinal confusion and disorientation." Specific passages in the declaration implicitly related to several writings by Francis, and some of them were seen as criticism or even opposition. The declaration states that "the religion born of faith in Jesus Christ" is the "only religion positively willed by God," seemingly alluding to the Document on Human Fraternity signed by Francis on February 4, which stated that the "diversity of religions" is "willed by God." Following recent changes to the Catechism of the Catholic Church to oppose capital punishment, the declaration states that the church "did not err" in teaching that civil authorities may "lawfully exercise capital punishment" when it is "truly necessary" to preserve the "just order of societies".
During the 2004 presidential election, Burke stated that he would not give communion to John Kerry or other Catholic politicians who publicly support legalized abortion. "One of the problems I have is bishops who say to me, 'Well, this is unheard of in the church's practice.' Actually it goes back to St. Paul in the (First) Letter to the Corinthians, when he says: The person who eats and drinks the body and blood of Christ unworthily eats and drinks condemnation unto himself," he said. He also wrote a pastoral letter saying Catholics should not vote for politicians who support abortion or other "anti-life" practices. Burke later clarified his position, stating that one could vote for a pro-abortion politician and not commit a mortal sin, if one believed there was a more significant moral issue than abortion at hand, but he also stated that he could not think of any sort of issue that would qualify. In a September 2008 interview, Burke said that "the Democratic Party risks transforming itself definitively into a 'party of death', because of its choices on bioethical questions", especially elective abortion.
In 2008, Burke urged Saint Louis University to take disciplinary action against its head basketball coach, Rick Majerus, after Majerus publicly supported abortion and embryonic stem cell research at a campaign event for Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Burke stated: "When you take a position in a Catholic university, you don't have to embrace everything the Catholic Church teaches. But you can't make statements which call into question the identity and mission of the Catholic Church." Saint Louis University supported Majerus's right to publicly expound on his own personal views when made at an event he did not attend as a university representative.
In 2019, Burke chastised some of his fellow bishops for their perceived failures in keeping church teaching. He believes there are "pressure groups" within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) who have been attempting to soften the church's attitude on homosexuality, including trying to remove the description "intrinsically disordered" from the discussion of homosexual acts in the Catechism, a change which Burke said is "not possible." Burke went on, "There is definitely within the hierarchy of the United States an element which is not coherent with the Church on these issues." He then criticized prelates who "promote Fr. James Martin ... within their dioceses." He alleged that Martin "is not coherent with the Church's teaching on homosexuality" and said that such promotion is "an indication to us that there is a serious difficulty within the hierarchy that must be addressed."
Burke has also criticized social distancing. On August 14, 2021, Burke announced he had tested positive for COVID-19; he was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator for several days. On August 28, Burke said that he had been transferred out of the intensive care unit and that his health condition was improving. On September 26, Burke announced that he been moved from the hospital and was making slow but steady progress in his rehabilitation from COVID-19 and he hoped to be able to resume normal duties in several weeks.
Social Network
Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke maintains an active public presence through official church communications and select media appearances. While he does not have verified personal social media accounts, his writings and speeches are widely shared and discussed by Catholic media and conservative religious networks.
A canon lawyer, Burke is perceived as a voice of traditionalism among prelates of the Catholic Church. He established a reputation as a conservative leader while serving in La Crosse and St. Louis. Burke is a major proponent of the Tridentine Mass, having frequently offered it and conferred ordinations on traditionalist priests. He has criticized what he sees as deficiencies in the post-1969 Mass of Paul VI. He is frequently seen as a de facto leader of the Church's conservative wing by some mainstream media outlets.
On November 4, 2014, in an interview with the Spanish Catholic weekly Vida Nueva, Burke complained that "There is a strong sense that the church is like a ship without a rudder." However, he also stated that he was not criticizing Francis. On November 8, four days later, Francis removed Burke as prefect.
Many observers believed that Francis removed Burke as prefect due to his "ship without a rudder" comment. Francis in December 2014 denied it, saying that he had decided to remove Burke before the October 2014 Synod of Bishops in Rome as part of a departmental restructuring.
In November 2014, Francis named Burke as patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. This position was a largely ceremonial post that was usually given to a retired cardinal or as a secondary job to an active one. Francis claimed that he wanted a "smart American" to serve as patron of Malta.
An interim document from the 2014 Synod of Bishops softened the Catholic Church's language on gay people, contraception and divorced and civilly remarried people. Burke said that the response showed that "a great number of the Synod Fathers found it objectionable." In an interview with The Catholic World Report, Burke said the document "lacks a solid foundation in the Sacred Scriptures and the Magisterium (the teaching authority of the Catholic Church) and gives the impression of inventing a totally new, what one member of the Synod called 'revolutionary', teaching on marriage and the family." Burke went on to say, in an interview with BuzzFeed News, that if "Pope Francis had selected certain cardinals to steer the meeting so as to advance his personal views on matters like divorce and the treatment of LGBT people", he would not be observing his mandate as the leader of the Catholic Church.
In March 2011, Burke said that too many priests and bishops treat violations of liturgical norms as something that is unimportant, when they are actually "serious abuses" that damage the faith of Catholics. He criticized a perceived lack of reverence in the way the modern liturgy is sometimes conducted, stating "If we err by thinking we are the center of the liturgy, the Mass will lead to a loss of faith." At the same time, Burke is known to wear lavish regalia and "is one of the few cardinals who dons cappa magnas, the long trains of watered silk that can look like scarlet lava flowing down from his throne" as well as "velvet gloves and extravagant brocades.
In a 2015 interview, Burke reiterated his concern that man has become center of Mass, saying that "In many places the Mass became very priest‑centered, it was like the 'priest show.' This type of abuse leads to a loss of the sense of the sacred, taking the essential mystery out of the Mass. The reality of Christ Himself coming down on the altar to make present His sacrifice on Calvary gets lost." Burke blamed modernization of the liturgy after the Second Vatican Council for declining Mass attendance. "In some cases it actually became hard for people to bear because of illicit insertions, foreign agendas, and imposition of the personalities of priests and congregations into the liturgy to the point that people began to think that the Mass was some sort of social activity...If one understands what the Mass truly is – Christ Himself coming down from Heaven to renew the sacrifice of Calvary – how could you possibly not be there on Sunday?" he asked.
Education
Cardinal Burke’s education reflects a traditional path for senior clergy:
- Seminary Studies: Attended Holy Cross Seminary in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
- Advanced Degrees: Graduated with a theology degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
- Canon Law: Earned a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
and Marie B. Burke. He is of Irish heritage with ancestors from counties Cork and Tipperary. Burke attended St. Mary's Parish School in Richland Center from 1954 to 1959. The family later moved to Stratford, Wisconsin. Having decided to become a priest, Burke entered Holy Cross Seminary in 1962 in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
After finishing at Holy Cross, Burke enrolled at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., as a Basselin scholar in 1968. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970 and a Master of Arts degree in 1971, both in philosophy.
Burke then travelled to Rome in 1971 to study theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was awarded a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree and a Master of Arts degree. While in Rome, Burke resided at the Pontifical North American College; he was classmates there with ten future bishops and two future cardinals – Blase J. Cupich and James Harvey.
After his ordination to the priesthood, Burke returned to La Crosse. The diocese assigned him as assistant rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse. He also taught religion at Aquinas High School in La Crosse. Burke went back to Rome in 1980 to study canon law at the Gregorian University. It awarded him a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1982 and a Doctorate in Canon Law in 1984.
In January 2017, it was revealed that Burke and Matthew Festing, grand master of Malta, had attempted to oust Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager as grand chancellor of the order. The ostensible reason was that von Boeselager had approved the supplying of condoms by the order to people in Myanmar, contradicting Catholic teaching. On February 2, 2017, Francis appointed Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu as his special delegate to Malta. Becciu was given the duties normally performed by the patron. On February 21, von Boeselager admitted that Burke was "de facto suspended" as patron.
Catholic academic Mark Silk has publicly accused Burke of committing the heresy of "Americanism" condemned by Pope Leo XIII and of disobeying the Pope. His conflicts with Pope Francis and the Vatican have been seen as symbolic of an ongoing large-scale conflict "between a more progressive Vatican and the American church".
Burke condemned Traditionis custodes, a July 2021 motu proprio issued by Pope Francis which effectively reversed Summorum Pontificum by placing limits on priests offering the Traditional Form of the Mass. He said that he could not understand the document's assertion that the Novus Ordo form represented the "unique expression" of the Roman Rite of the Mass, because the Traditional Form "is a living form of the Roman Rite and has never ceased to be so". While Francis described the Traditional Mass as something that had become a tool to promote schism in Christianity, Burke said that he had not seen such tendencies in practice. He alleged that the Pope's document was "marked by harshness" towards those who attend Mass in the older form and criticized the fact that it took effect immediately, which in his view did not give adequate time for those affected to study its meaning. Burke stated that Pope Francis did not have the authority to eliminate the Traditional Mass.
In August 2018, Burke described ongoing sex abuse scandals in the church as "an apostasy from the faith". He added that "principally, it starts with the idea that there can be legitimate sexual activity outside of marriage, which of course is false, completely false". Burke called for Catholics to pray and perform acts of reparation in the midst of the crisis.
During his tenure in Saint Louis, Burke was awarded honorary doctorates in humane letters by two US Catholic universities, Ave Maria University in 2005, and Christendom College in 2007.
Archbishop Robert James Carlson of St. Louis created the Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke Chair in Canon Law at St. Louis's Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. In May 2011, the Franciscan University of Steubenville awarded Burke an honorary doctorate.
