Two Church Leaders Blame LGBTQ People for Coronavirus Pandemic

Cardinal Raymond Burke

Two ranking church leaders have blamed LGBTQ people for the coronavirus pandemic currently spreading globally and imperiling billions of lives.

Cardinal Raymond Burke issued a letter last week advocating that, despite public health officials’ guidelines against doing so, Catholics should be able to worship at churches. Decrying the alleged ills of modern society that necessitate such worship, Burke wrote, per The Advocate:

“Worship is particularly needed now because of ‘how distant our popular culture is from God,’ he wrote, noting abortion and euthanasia, then attacking the LGBTQ equality movement, particularly activism for recognition of transgender identity.

“‘We need only to think of the pervasive attack upon the integrity of human sexuality, of our identity as man or woman, with the pretense of defining for ourselves, often employing violent means, a sexual identity other than that given to us by God,’ he said. ‘With ever greater concern, we witness the devastating effect on individuals and families of the so-called “gender theory.”‘ Burke went on to say, ‘There is no question that great evils like pestilence are an effect of original sin and of our actual sins.'”

Burke was once a high-ranking U.S. archbishop and head of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican court, but has been repeatedly demoted under Pope Francis. He has an incredibly anti-LGBTQ record. Burke once compared lesbian, gay, and bisexual people to murderers. He advocated for the denial of Communion to supporters of LGBTQ equality, suggesting Irish voters were “worse than pagans” when they overwhelmingly approved equal marriage by referendum. And he attacked gay priests as a problem in the church. These outbursts are in addition to his role leading the resistance to Francis, including fierce opposition to Amoris Laetitia and the Synod on the Amazon.

In Mexico, Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of Cuernavaca said the pandemic was God “beating us to reflect” on our sins, including affirming transgender children. Proceso reported that after attacking abortion and assisted dying:

“[Castro] immediately pointed out that there is also the issue of gender choice that boys and girls want to have.

“‘Let the children wait to see what gender they want to be. That a boy decides to be a girl or a girl who wants to be a boy. Ah geez! Surely God says: “Hey children, where are you going? Wait a moment, wait a moment, they are my children and I love them, and I want them and I love them, and I am merciful. They are going into an abyss.'”

Castro later warned that the virus tells humanity not to “play God,” but rather to recognize human beings’ fragility.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, issued a statement about the remarks by Burke and Castro, condemning them as displaying “displaying rash irresponsibility in a time when the world is already suffering from danger, fear, and instability.” DeBernardo continued:

“With no scientific evidence—because none exists—these churchmen have exploited the world’s most dangerous modern public health crisis to promote their own biased and prejudiced views of LGBTQ people.  The lack of scientific knowledge about the virus mirrors their lack of scientific knowledge about LGBTQ people.  The combination of these anti-intellectual perspectives is a volatile mixture.

“Pope Francis should remove both men from public ministry for dangerous and irresponsible language about LGBTQ people, and also for promoting ignorant disinformation in the midst of a global health crisis.  The Catholic Church, a worldwide religion already widely discredited, cannot ignore such recklessness.”

For DeBernardo’s full statement, click here.

Robert Shine, New Ways Ministry, March 25, 2020

14 replies
  1. Thomas Ellison
    Thomas Ellison says:

    Mindful of the New Ways Ministry / Bondings 2.0 guidelines for comments, how can Burke’s remarks be considered anything but hateful and , frankly, idiotic.

    Reply
  2. No name
    No name says:

    To the Cardinal Raymond Burke.
    I am quite disgusted as to the bishop’s comment with regards to the visiting churches during this aggressive pandemic of the CoronaVirus . You can pray anywhere at home , in your car, in a garage or in a park, GOD. Will hear you anywhere and the last thing he would want to happen is a crowd of people gathering in a church where the risk of passing this virus onto to others would be very high.
    Shame on you to even complain about the closure of churches under these circumstances and you should have yourself confessed !!
    Yours truly from a disgusted Christian believer.
    Oh one more thing , you should look at your problem you have within your cardinals , bishops and priests on the matter of paedophile
    before you open your mouth and accuse others for creating this virus we are all having to experience.
    You should be struck from the Christian church and not be allowed to practice anymore.

    Reply
  3. Katie Riney
    Katie Riney says:

    This poor soul needs prayers. He is probably scared to death of coming out himself or whatever it is that is keeping him so angry and full of hatred. Thank you in advance, Pope Francis, for spreading love and light!

    Reply
  4. John Hilgeman
    John Hilgeman says:

    As a friend of mine says, one of the greatest gifts we have as humans, is the ability to think and to reason. In this situation, I trust the assessments and directives of the scientific experts more than the unhinged musings of a president or churchman.

    I also think that though Jesus said “Do this in memory of me,” he also advised us to go into our rooms, close the doors, and pray to our Abba in secret. This is one of those situations that the latter is the sensible thing to do, rather than to walk into a crowded church risking being infected, and risking infecting others.

    I also think the directives of Pope Francis and many of our local bishops carry more weight, when they order a halt to public worship services and advise us to watch masses on TV.

    Cardinal Burke has a problem. He may rail against homosexuals and transgender people, but his raiment gives a mixed message, to say the least. We may well pray for him, and at the same time ignore whatever he has to say about LGBT people and about public worship in a time of a pandemic. He clearly does not know what he is talking about.

    Reply
  5. Bishop Paul Breton
    Bishop Paul Breton says:

    Some persons such as this cardinal are obsessed with the LGBTQ topic. I think that they all need to be reminded of church history. One of the reasons for the Protestant Reformation was prostitution. Not the common streetwalker type. Brothels were often operated by church entities as a means to address sexual issues. While Henry VIII was denied the right to divorce his wife by the Church, Cardinal Woolsey had his mistress through whom he fathered many children. Do not forget that boys selected to sing in the Sistine Chapel Boys Choir were castrated so that their voices would not mature. This practice continued until about the time of World War I. People of sexual minority are not the ones responsible for the Coronavirus or the moral desuitude of the world today.

    Reply
  6. Ed Arambasich
    Ed Arambasich says:

    The Cardinal is to be pitied for his unpleasant and harmful comments, truly sad, and to my brothers and sisters who are gay, lesbian, transgendered, etc. please know that you are loved and always will be loved by the majority of the Church including our dear Holy Father, Pope Francis.

    Finally, anyone who can dress up with such a fabulous outfit as he should be ashamed of himself to say such terrible things about being gay, I mean, really.

    Reply
    • Phil Ryan
      Phil Ryan says:

      Very well said, Ed. This demagogue of prejudice vilification and meanness is what I would label as abominable.All promulgated, coming from an individual locked in a bubble world of his churchism and insularity. Jesus never condemned gay people/homosexuals. In fact, he cured the Centurions servant, a gay man described under the greek word pais in former translations.”NO WONDER” I’ve turned my back on the catholic church who’s outspoken bigots, leaders have no connection with the love of Jesus a loving saviour.

      Reply
  7. Michael Cook
    Michael Cook says:

    I agree that Cardinal Burke has long displayed anti-LGBTQ attitudes. He is irresponsible as is President Trump for suggesting he would like to re-open the country around Easter time and for wanting to see packed churches. However, that is VERY DiFFERENT from suggesting he links the LGBTQ movement to the onset and spread of COVID-19. Do you you think you should revise a bit?

    Reply
    • Francis DeBernardo, Editor
      Francis DeBernardo, Editor says:

      Thanks for your comment, Michael. The news report said that in talking about the virus, Burke stated:

      “‘We need only to think of the pervasive attack upon the integrity of human sexuality, of our identity as man or woman, with the pretense of defining for ourselves, often employing violent means, a sexual identity other than that given to us by God,’ he said. ‘With ever greater concern, we witness the devastating effect on individuals and families of the so-called “gender theory.”‘ Burke went on to say, ‘There is no question that great evils like pestilence are an effect of original sin and of our actual sins.’”

      The key is in the last sentence. Immediately after he listed LGBTQ ideas as sins, he said that pestilence is cause by sins. I believe that is a solid causal connection.

      Reply

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