Flu and conservative critics, the challenges of Pope Francis who could not read his speech or attend the COP28 climate conference in Dubai

He pope Francis He remains stable, but he still has pneumonia which prevented him from reading his catechism at the weekly general audience at the Vatican yesterday and was forced to ask one of his associates for help. Due to medical advice, he was also unable to attend the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

Before the audience, the Pope was received by the Scottish football club Celtic, but his speech was read by someone else.

Spokesmen for the Holy See confirmed that the Pope, who will soon turn 87, is being treated with antibiotics.

Meanwhile, American media such as The Huffington Post reported that Pope Francis has decided to take action against one of his most senior critics, American Cardinal Raymond Burke.

If confirmed, this would be it the second action seen as radical against a conservative North American prelate this month. The previous one was the former bishop of Tyler, Joseph Strickland, who was removed by the pope after his criticism of attempts to reform the Catholic Church. Strickland was asked to resign, but when he refused, he was fired.

Joseph Strickland, the bishop who was excommunicated by Pope Francis after his criticism of attempts to reform the Catholic Church

The pope would say at a meeting of the board of directors of the Vatican offices that his actions against Burke would be because he had become a source of disunity in the church, one of the participants in the Nov. 20 meeting confirmed, as reported today. Huffington Post.

Burke would lose his housing allowance and salary as a retired cardinal, When he was accused of using his privileges against the church, another source said that, like the previous one, he remained anonymous because they were not authorized to disclose details.

Burke, a 75-year-old canon lawyer, has not yet received notice of the measures, his secretary said in a text message to The Associated Press (AP).

The pope has a history of rivalry with the cardinal, having fired him from the Vatican’s Supreme Court of Justice in 2014. He has since become one of the most outspoken critics of the supreme pope, especially for his approach to LGBTQ Catholics and his reform project so that the church would have more communication with its parishioners.

Burke twice joined other conservative cardinals in putting formal questions known as ‘dubias’ to the pope, asking him to clarify doctrinal matters that bothered that sector.

What are the reasons? In addition to the aforementioned, this movement opposes the Pope’s position on divorce and second civil marriage among Catholics. But he didn’t answer. They insisted on consulting him about his official opinion Should the blessing be given to same-sex couples? This time they got an ambiguous answer: ‘Maybe’.

And then, at this year’s October synod, Burke presided over a kind of anti-synod, held near the Square of St. He fiercely refuted that the culture of the ‘synodal church’ and reforms in Catholicism.

“It is unfortunate that the call of the Holy Spirit for some aims to bring about a plan that is more political and human than ecclesiastical and divine,” he said then, to the applause of the audience.

Burke, a Wisconsin native and devotee of Our Lady of Guadalupe, would join former Tyler, Texas bishop Joseph Strickland in receiving papal sanction. Strickland was the subject of an investigation into the affairs of his diocese before being replaced by fellow countryman Joe Vásquez.

Strickland reacted with shock to the allegations against Burke. “If it is true, it is a crime that needs to be confronted. If it is false information, it must be corrected immediately.”

Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni did not deny the reports, but asked reporters to direct their questions to Burke.

UX post today, Strickland encouraged prayer for the Pope and the Catholic Church. “Long live Christ the King,” he concluded in Spanish.