Burch said his recent comments to the New York Times were not meant to imply that Pope Leo’s statements about the Iran war should be seen as simply diplomatic — rather than spiritual — guidance.
After the Vatican reframed statements that U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch made to The New York Times, the ambassador has clarified that he understands Pope Leo XIV’s role as a head of state is “inseparable” from his role as the universal shepherd of the Church.
During a July 23 interview with the EWTN News program The World Over with Raymond Arroyo, Burch clarified that his July 9 comments to the Times were not meant to imply that Leo’s statements about Iran war policy should be seen as simply diplomatic — rather than spiritual — guidance.
“I think thereʼs a misunderstanding,” Burch explained. “… [The role of] the pope as the universal sovereign of the Holy See and as the universal pastor — a pastor of the universal Church — is inseparable.”
The controversy stemmed from a quotation in the Times article in which Burch said: “When the pope acts as the sovereign leader of the Holy See, he is coequal with
