(KMOX) - The health of Raymond Cardinal Burke has deteriorated, according to a new report. The former Archbishop of St. Louis and outspoken critic of the COVID-19 vaccine has been hospitalized with the virus for days.
The Catholic News Agency stated Tuesday that a source who is close to the cardinal said "the next 48 hours are crucial." He's in critical condition and has been on a ventilator for several days.
KMOX Health and Religion editor Fred Bodimer reported that on Monday he spoke with friends of Burke who say "doctors are hoping for his recovery." It's not known if Burke has received a COVID-19 vaccine.
You can hear more reporting by Bodimer in the podcast below:
Burke, 73, stated in a tweet on Aug. 10 that he tested positive for COVID-19 and four days later he tweeted again that he was on a ventilator and "doctors are encouraged by his progress."
He was the St. Louis Archbishop from 2004 to 2008.
In May of last year he said vaccines shouldn't be imposed in a "totalitarian manner" and repeated a debunked theory that the vaccination process could be use to implant people with microchips.
"There is a certain movement to insist that now everyone must be vaccinated against the coronavirus COVID-19, and even that a kind of microchip needs to be placed under the skin of every person, so that at any moment, he or she can be controlled regarding health and regarding other matters, which we can only imagine as a possible object of control by the state," he said.
Burke has also made references to the coronavirus as "the mysterious Wuhan virus," criticized China as an "evil form of government" and suggested the country played a role in "creating" the pandemic.
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