Thursday, October 07, 2004

Exclusive: Bishop Raymond Burke on His New Pastoral

The archbishop of St. Louis, Raymond Burke, answers Inside The Vatican's questions on his landmark October 1 pastoral letter on politicians and abortion, and discusses the upcoming US presidential election

ITV: Some in your flock are claiming that you are interfering in the voting process, telling them how to vote. How do you respond?

Archbishop Burke: I’m not telling anybody how to vote in this sense: I’m not telling them for whom they should vote. But I am telling them how to vote in the sense of what are the moral requirements for the right exercise of the right to vote. In other words, I’m setting forth for them the moral considerations of which they have to take note in voting. But I’m not telling them for whom they should vote.

People have to read the pastoral letter – there isn’t anything in the pastoral letter which is new; it’s all what the Church has taught perennially. Then it’s a matter of their conscience. In that sense, I suppose to put it simply, I’m telling them how to vote in the sense that I’m telling to vote according to their conscience and helping them to form that conscience correctly.
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