More from the Post Dispatch on Archbishop Burke's Appointment

Pope Benedict XVI has named St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke to the Roman Catholic Church's supreme court, its highest judicial authority. The Vatican's Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature, as it is called, hears appeals of select cases that cannot be settled in the church's lower tribunals.

"It's a very prestigious position to be named to," said Rocco Palmo, U.S. correspondent for The Tablet, a British weekly that reports on the Vatican. "It says the archbishop of St. Louis is still a national leader in the eyes of the church."

[Monsignor John B. Shamleffer, the St. Louis archdiocese's judicial vicar] said Benedict was "recognizing the archbishop's qualities" and believes he can help settle disputes.

One case that could come before the Supreme Tribunal is that of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, just north of downtown St. Louis. Late last year, Burke declared excommunicated the parish's lay board members and a priest they hired from another diocese.