LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) -- The former bishop of the La Crosse diocese is among the 115 cardinals gathered in Vatican City for their final days of talks before the conclave to elect a new pope.
Of 11 voting cardinals from the U.S, six are from the Midwest. Cardinal Raymond Burke is a Richland Center native who grew up in Stratford.
Burke was bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse from 1995 to 2004. Currently, he's prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the church's top judicial authority next to the pope.
Other voting cardinals with ties to Wisconsin include New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who was Milwaukee archbishop from 2002 to 2009. The other voting cardinal from Wisconsin is James Michael Harvey, a Milwaukee native.
In November 2010, NewsChannel 7's Liz Hayes interviewed Cardinal Burke during an exclusive sit down interview in Rome as he became a Cardinal. Click here to view exclusive video and stories.
