Cardinal Raymond Burke has been placed on ventilator after he contracted COVID-19. Burke, who contracted the virus during his trip to Wisconsin, had openly expressed his reservations against the vaccines and suggested that it contained microchips for the government to track recipients.
Burke, who was born in Wisconsin, served as bishop of the diocese of La Crosse from 1995 to 2004. He was appointed as the archbishop of St. Louis. The Religion News reported that Burke was called to Rome in 2008 to act as prefect of the Vatican's Apostolic Signature.
'Doctors Encouraged by Burke's Progress'
Revealing that Burke got infected while visiting Wisconsin, his former press secretary Elizabeth Westhoff said that he certainly is a good and faithful son of the church.
"He has been a wonderful spiritual father to me and to many, many other people around the world who look to him for orthodox teachings when it comes to issues concerning the church. Knowing him, I'm sure that he is offering this up, as we say in the church, for those who are suffering from COVID right now along with him," Westhoff was quoted by Raw Story.
A tweet posted from the 73-year-old's official account stated: "Cardinal Burke has been admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 and is being assisted by a ventilator. Doctors are encouraged by his progress. H.E. faithfully prayed the Rosary for those suffering from the virus. On this Vigil of the Assumption, let us now pray the Rosary for him."
'Vaccination Itself Cannot be Imposed, In a Totalitarian Manner'-Burke
During the Rome Life Forum held in May last year, the Cardinal had expressed his reservations against the COVID-19 vaccine and supported the conspiracy theories related to vaccine, including the microchips and presence of aborted fetal cells.
"It must be clear that vaccination itself cannot be imposed, in a totalitarian manner, on citizens. There is a certain movement to insist that now everyone must be vaccinated against the coronavirus," said the Cardinal during the virtual address.
Suggesting that the vaccines contain "a kind of microchip needs to be placed under the skin of every person, so that at any moment he or she can be controlled by the State regarding health and about other matters which we can only imagine," Burke said that it "violates the integrity of its citizens."
"It must be clear that it is never morally justified to develop a vaccine through the use of the cell lines of aborted fetuses," Burke had said while fueling another conspiracy.
