The following comes from a December 16 LifeSiteNews article by Claire Chretien:

On Thursday’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” Cardinal Raymond Burke responded to those within the Church who are criticizing him and three other cardinals for asking for moral clarification on Amoris Laetitia. He said the cardinals are not creating division, but “address[ing]” existing division within the Church. He also insists that he will “never” be part of a schism for defending the Catholic faith, and that attacks on marriage destabilize the Church and society.

Burke directly responded to the claims that close papal collaborator Father Anthony Spadaro and Cardinal Christoph Schönborn have made about Amoris Laetitia. In particular, he addressed Spadaro’s claim that Pope Francis already answered the dubia of four cardinals by approving guidelines issued by the bishops of Buenos Aires allowing Communion for the divorced and remarried. Burke also responded to Pope Francis saying people who are overly “rigid” about defending doctrine suffer from a kind of “condition.”

Responding to Spadaro’s claim that Burke and the other three cardinals are trying to “ramp up” division and tension in the Church, Burke said, “In fact, we’re trying to address the division which is already very much ramped up, to use his phrase.”

“Only when these questions, which we have raised according to the traditional manner of resolving questions in the Church which have to do with very serious matters, only when these questions are adequately answered will the division be dissipated,” said Burke. “But as is happening right now, as long as this continues, the division will only grow and of course the fruit of division is error. And here we’re talking about the salvation of souls, people being led into error in matters which have to do with their eternal salvation. And so Father Spadaro is very much in error in that affirmation.”

Burke said he was “very much” offended by Spadaro’s recent claim that Pope Francis doesn’t give answers to “binary” questions.

“It is the role of the pope as the pastor of the universal Church, as the guardian of the unity of the bishops and of the whole Body of Christ, to respond to such questions,” said Burke. “To suggest that posing these questions is a sign of insincerity is deeply offensive. I can assure you that for myself, and I know the other cardinals involved, we wouldn’t raise the questions unless we had the deepest and most sincere concern for the Church herself and for the individual members of the faithful.”

Pope Francis has “given his own opinion” on Communion for the divorced and remarried, but “the question can only be answered in terms of what the Church has always taught and practiced,” Burke said. “It’s not a matter of…some speculative idea I may have about how to approach these questions, but how does Christ in His Church address such questions? …until that answer is provided, we remain in a confused state.”

“I, for my part, will never be part of a schism,” said Burke. “I’m a Roman Catholic and defending the Roman Catholic faith is not the cause of my being separated from the Church. And so I simply intend to continue to defend the faith out of love for Our Lord and for the, his mystical body, my brothers and sisters in the Church, and I believe the other cardinals are of the same mind.”

When Arroyo pressed Burke on remarks Pope Francis made claiming people who are “sort of locked in their ‘rigidity’ over doctrine and otherwise… suffer from a compulsion or a condition,” the cardinal said the dubia “are not the reactions of people who are suffering from emotional disorders.”

“Our presentation of the five questions is done with great serenity and with great respect,” he said. “That we’re very deeply concerned about the truth of the doctrine of the faith and its integrity is not a sign of illness.”