Cardinal Raymond Burke, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. (The Remnant Newspaper)

On the 44th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion on demand in the United States, Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke offered a mass in Dallas for "all the great evil done in our country" by abortion, which he called a "crime" and a "great offense to God." In his sermon during the Mass, Burke further described Roe v. Wade as "a rebellion against God and His Law."

On Jan. 22, outside Mary Immaculate Church in Dallas, Texas, Cardinal Burke was asked by Catholic Action's Thomas McKenna, "What does it mean for a country to have abortion now for 44 years?"

Burke, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and former bishop of La Crosse Wisc. and St. Louis, Mo., said, “Well, it’s truly a scourge on our country. A country that kills its own babies in the womb is a country without a future, without hope. So today we’re here to ask reparation for the millions of babies that have already been killed in the womb since that decision on January 22, 1973."

"At the same time, we’re praying and working hard so that our country can recover respect for all human life from the very moment of conception to the moment of natural death," said Burke. "And so, our prayer is one of reparation for all the great evil done in our country through the procured abortion of infants in the womb, and at the same time a prayer for the transformation of the culture of death, which has entered so terribly in our country, a transformation of that culture into a culture of life where, once again, there is a future and a hope for every child who is conceived in this country.”

When asked by McKenna to explain what the Mass of Reparation is, Cardinal Burke, a former head of the hughest court at the Vatican, said, “Well, the crime of abortion is a great offense to God, who gives human life. And for us to take the action of destroying a life given by God in its very moments or days or even months, is a grave offense to God."

"So, we offer the Mass asking God to forgive us and at the same time offering our prayers and sacrifices to repair all the harm that has been done, the offense to God, but also all of the harm that has been done to so many through the crime of abortion," said the cardinal.

In his sermon during the Mass, Cardinal Burke said of the Roe v. Wade decision, "We recognize in that decision of the highest court of our nation a rebellion against God and His Law written upon every human heart in its first and most fundamental tenet: to safeguard and to foster human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death."