Outspoken conservative Cardinal Raymond L. Burke is reportedly on a ventilator after contracting COVID-19 sometime last week. The Washington Post reports that Burke announced that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday. On Saturday, Burke’s Twitter account posted that the 73-year-old cardinal had been admitted to a hospital in Wisconsin, that he had “prayed the Rosary for those suffering from the virus,” and that his “doctors are encouraged by his progress.”
The Cardinal resides in Vatican city but was visiting his birth state of Wisconsin when he contracted COVID-19. At the time, he tweeted out the statement“Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Thanks be to God, I am resting comfortably and receiving excellent medical care. Please pray for me as I begin my recovery. Let us trust in Divine Providence. God bless you.” The Post says that Burke, who has been critical of vaccines in general, from development to deployment, did not say whether or not he had been vaccinated.