It appears the Vatican has a new kingmaker — or, at least, someone whose voice and views will be having a powerful impact on the American Church.  

Pope Benedict XVI’s naming of U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke to the Congregation for Bishops was a small but significant appointment that could have an impact on the wider church for many years to come. 

The congregation’s members generally meet every two weeks to review candidates for vacant dioceses and make their recommendations to the pope — recommendations that carry a lot of weight. Precisely for that reason, the Congregation for Bishops is known as one of the most important Roman Curia agencies.
Membership on the congregation is a five-year appointment, which could be renewed until a prelate’s 80th birthday. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Archbishop Burke, 61, will be helping to shape the episcopate, not only in the United States but also around the world. 

Formerly the archbishop of St. Louis, Archbishop Burke was named in 2008 as head of the Vatican’s highest tribunal, known as the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature. At the time, pundits wondered whether the appointment would in effect sideline someone who had been one of the most outspoken U.S. bishops on moral and political issues. 

Archbishop Burke has been anything but silent, however. Since his Vatican appointment, he has insisted that holy Communion be refused to Catholic politicians who actively support legal abortion, said the Democratic Party in the United States “risks transforming itself definitively into a ‘party of death,'” and said nothing could justify casting a ballot for a candidate who supports “anti-life” and “anti-family” legislation.

Read on for more insight and details.