--- description: Cardinal Raymond Burke was the Vatican's highest ranking American title: Pope Francis Demotes Cardinal Raymond Burke image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5776239a4cc2ead6/698767d3f887dcdc8fe88470/raymond-burke-pope.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Vatican](/tag/vatican/) ## Vatican Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Pope Francis Demotes Outspoken Conservative Cardinal  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 8, 2014 6:50 PM CUT  Archbishop of St. Louis cardinal Raymond Leo Burke attends Palm Sunday Mass celebrated by Pope Francis at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on April 13, 2014. Archbishop of St. Louis cardinal Raymond Leo Burke attends Palm Sunday Mass celebrated by Pope Francis at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on April 13, 2014.Franco Origlia—Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 8, 2014 6:50 PM CUT Pope Francis has demoted a conservative American cardinal who has criticized his leadership of the Catholic Church. The pontiff removed Cardinal Raymond Burke as the leader of the Vatican’s highest court and appointed him to a ceremonial position as chaplain of the Knights of Malta, a charity group, [according to a press bulletin issued Saturday](http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2014/11/08/0834/01763.html#Nomina%20del Patrono del Sovrano Militare Ordine di Malta "undefined"). That is a significant demotion, according to the _National Catholic Reporter._ “The position of Patron of the the Order of Malta is usually given to a retired cardinal, or as a second task to an active cardinal,” [Michael Sean Winters writes](http://ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/its-official-cardinal-burke-out "undefined"). “It has almost no responsibilities.” The move was not a surprise, as Burke, the Vatican’s highest ranking American, had said last month that he was going to have a new post. The outspoken, conservative bishop — who pushed for the Vatican to revise and water-down its recent, tentative step toward greater [acceptance of LGBT people](http://time.com/3513071/vatican-synod-bishops-homosexuality/ "undefined") — has butted heads with the pope since the Argentine was elected last year. Last month, he compared Pope Francis’ leadership to “a ship without a rudder” during an interview with a Spanish magazine. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3574166/pope-francis-demotes-cardinal-raymond-burke/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3574166/pope-francis-demotes-cardinal-raymond-burke/"},"headline":"Pope Francis Demotes Outspoken Conservative Cardinal","datePublished":"2014-11-08T18:50:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:19:14.546Z","description":"Cardinal Raymond Burke was the Vatican's highest ranking American","url":"https://time.com/3574166/pope-francis-demotes-cardinal-raymond-burke/","keywords":["Vatican","Religion","Pope Francis topic","pope"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5776239a4cc2ead6/698767d3f887dcdc8fe88470/raymond-burke-pope.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5776239a4cc2ead6/698767d3f887dcdc8fe88470/raymond-burke-pope.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Raymond Burke Pope Francis","caption":"Raymond Burke Pope Francis","creditText":"Franco Origlia—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/vatican/","name":"Vatican"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3574166/pope-francis-demotes-cardinal-raymond-burke/","name":"Pope Francis Demotes Outspoken Conservative Cardinal"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"2013 Person of the Year: Pope Francis Reimagines the Papacy","description":"From his comments on gays to his penchant for Twitter, Pope Francis's every move has garnered strong reactions from the world media.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aYRnrfUV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-11T12:42:10.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aYRnrfUV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3574166/pope-francis-demotes-cardinal-raymond-burke/","duration":"PT3M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3574166/pope-francis-demotes-cardinal-raymond-burke/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```