By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, has issued a statement condemning the misuse of a taped interview between himself and pro life activist Randall Terry of Operation Rescue that is being made to look as if he is participating in Terry’s “campaign of severe criticism of certain fellow bishops.” The interview with the Archbishop took place earlier this month when Terry and other pro-life activists were in Rome for a meeting with Vatican officials. The purpose of the meeting was to urge them to remove Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington DC and Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde for their failure to deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians. At one point in the interview, Terry specifically asked Archbishop Burke about "the bishops who stepped up such as in Washington, D.C. Virginia and others … Massachusetts…[and] said that we will serve communion." While the Archbishop did not endorse Terry’s call for the bishops’ removal, he did encourage his brother bishops to recognize defense of human life as an important part of their pastoral care of the faithful.  This taped interview was then played by Terry at a press conference at the National Press Club on March 25 and presented in a way that made it look as though Archbishop Burke was an accomplice in Terry’s campaign to have Archbishop Wuerl and Bishop Loverde removed. The Archbishop issued a statement saying that Terry used the videotape for a purpose he never intended. “I was never informed that the videotape would become part of a press conference,” the Archbishop said. “I gave the interview as a Bishop from the United States to encourage those engaged in the respect life apostolate, not as the Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.” He added, “I was never informed that the videotape would be used as part of a campaign of severe criticism of certain fellow bishops regarding the application of Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law. If I had known what the true purpose of the interview was, I would never have agreed to participate in it.” “I am deeply sorry for the confusion and hurt which the wrong use of the videotape has caused to anyone, particularly, to my brother bishops.” © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly/Women of Grace. http://www.womenofgrace.com