Cardinal Burke: Amazon Synod working doc ‘is a direct attack on the Lordship of Christ’

October 1, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Raymond Burke has spoken out against the misuse of the Amazon synodal process, blasting its recent exploitation to change both the doctrine and disciplines of the Catholic Church. The synod is set to take place in Rome this month from the 6-27.

“The fundamental concept of a synod was to call together representatives of the clergy and the lay people to see how the Church could more effectively teach and more effectively apply her discipline,” Burke told Sohrab Ahmari in an interview published Sept. 27 in First Things. 

The Cardinal, 71, explained that synods “never had anything to do with changing doctrine or with changing discipline.”

“It was all meant to be a way of furthering the mission of the Church,” he continued.

Burke cited the Code of Canon Law when he explained that a synod is supposed to advise the pope “in the preservation and growth of faith and morals, and the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline.”

“There’s nothing there about altering the doctrine or the discipline,” he added.

The Cardinal then described the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, for this month’s Synod on the Amazon as an attack on Christ Himself.

“The working document of the Pan-Amazonian synod is a direct attack on the Lordship of Christ,” Burke said. 

“It says to people, ‘You already have the answers, and Christ is just one among many sources of answers.’ This is apostasy,” he continued.

Burke stressed that inculturation does not mean alteration of the truth of Christ.

“Christ is Lord, and in every time and place—this is the genius of the Church,” he said.

“When missionaries have preached Christ, they have also recognized the gifts and talents of the people to whom they were preaching,” he continued. 

“The people then expressed in their own art and architecture the truths of the Church. They added their own flavor to the expression of the underlying Truth.” 

The American Cardinal also addressed the synod that the German Bishops are organizing for themselves despite the disapproval of the Holy See. Burke told Ahmari that their “synodal path” is not valid.

“This has been made very clear,” Burke said.

“In the letter to German bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet of the Congregation for Bishops [told them] that they are undertaking a process that is basically outside the Church—in other words, attempting to create a church according to their own image and likeness,” he explained. 

The Cardinal believes that this German innovation must be stopped before “greater harm” is done to Catholics.

“We’re talking about the salvation of souls, which means we need to take whatever measure is necessary,” he stressed.

Burke said the German bishops believe that they can change doctrine to suit their nation, but that they are wrong.

“The German bishops believe that they can now define doctrine, which is false,” he told Ahmari.

“Otherwise, we would end up with a whole group of national churches, each with their own preferences regarding doctrine and discipline.”