Many perceived Burke's dismissal as related to his "rudderless ship" comment. Pope Francis denied that removing Burke as head of the Vatican's highest court was a "punishment" for his outspoken conservative views at the 2014 Synod on the Family, saying that he wanted a "smart American" to serve as patron of the Order of Malta. The pontiff said that the move was part of a broader restructuring of the Vatican bureaucracy that had been decided well before the synod, but he had waited until after the synod to make it official so Burke could still participate in the meeting as the head of a Vatican department.