CatholicVote has gradually emerged as a player in conservative politics, often as a sharp-elbowed crusader in the culture wars.
The US President-elect Donald Trump announced on Friday the 20th of December that he has nominated Brian Burch, the president and co-founder of CatholicVote, as ambassador to the Vatican.
Burch wrote on X that he was “deeply honored and humbled” to be nominated, expressing gratitude to family and those at his organization. he wrote, "I am committed to working with leaders inside the Vatican and the new Administration to promote the dignity of all people and the common good".
CatholicVote has emerged as a reliable ally of the president-elect and helped to garner Catholic votes for the GOP in November; additionally the lobbying organization and political action committee has focused its efforts on fighting abortion rights, advocating against LGBTQ+ inclusion and civil rights, and criticizing immigrant ministries.
Burch has been a vocal critic of Pope Francis’ decision to oust two conservative Catholic leaders from their positions, and he has dismissed the efforts of the most recent synod, a top priority for the pope, as a ruse.
Ken Hackett, an ambassador to the Holy See during President Barack Obama’s second term, told the media that while Burch’s opposition to Francis could possibly be overstated, he might run into some trouble in the post.
“This is the pontificate of Pope Francis, and while there may be many in the Curia that don’t agree 100% with everything Francis does or decides, he is still the pope, and if you’re seen as in opposition in any way to him, you’re not going to get the doors open,” Hackett said. “If he has a reputation that is in any way anti-Pope Francis, I don’t think he’s going to find a lot of comfort,” he added.
Hackett emphasis on the difficulty of the job. “The job for somebody who has had nothing to do with the Vatican is exceptionally complicated. The Vatican and the various dicasteries in the Vatican operate in ways that you don’t intuitively understand,” he said. “State Department doesn’t tell you exactly how to work in the world of Pope Francis.”
The former ambassador said he received an important piece of advice when he began the job: “It’s not transactional, it’s all relational, and if you understand that, then you build the relations, and building relations takes a long time.”