LA CROSSE, Wis. (WXOW) – Cardinal Raymond Burke, a Richland Center native and former Bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse, is hospitalized and on a ventilator after contracting COVID-19.
In a post on the Cardinal’s Twitter account on Saturday, it said that he’d gone to the hospital and is “being assisted by a ventilator.” It also said doctors are encouraged by his progress.
This comes following a tweet sent out by the Cardinal, who is 73, on August 10 stating he’d recently tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the Associated Press, the Washington Post and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Burke caught the virus while visiting Wisconsin and is hospitalized there. The diocese had no information Monday on where Burke is hospitalized according to the Associated Press.
Ordained as a priest in 1975, he was named Bishop for the Diocese of La Crosse in 1994 and consecrated in January 1995 by Pope John Paul II.
He remained as Bishop until 2004 when he was named Archbishop of St. Louis.
Cardinal Burke also led the drive to found the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe here in La Crosse in 2008.