Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, 76, is being touted as one of the leaders in the race for the papacy.

His selection would mark the first time an American has held the papacy in the Catholic Church's 2,000 year history. 

The Wisconsin-born bishop is diametrically opposed to the late Pope Francis' views on nearly all the contested issues within the faith.

Burke is a traditionalist, who is de facto leader of the church's conservatives.

He is outspoken against any softening of its policy towards LGBTQ people, divorce, and the role of women and often spoke out to contradict Pope Francis' more progressive stances.

Francis became so at odds with Burke that he stripped him of his role as head of the Catholic courts, the panel that chooses judges, and even his free Rome apartment.

The Wisconsin bishop has been vocal in his support for Donald Trump and called his election victory in 2016 a win for anti-abortion causes.

In 2019, he urged voters to cast their votes for Trump again, stating that the president has a 'great disposition' towards the Church's moral laws and would 'follow the principles and dictates of our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution'. 

He stopped short of endorsing Trump in the latest election, but vocalized his condemnation for abortion laws. 

Burke was born in Richland Center, a rural town in Wisconsin, as the youngest of the six children to Thomas and Marie Burke, both of Irish Catholic heritage.

He grew up on a dairy farm until his father was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1955 when he was in second grade.

As Thomas Burke lay dying, he was regularly visited by a local priest to receive communion, which had a 'tremendous impression' on his son.

Burke joined the Holy Cross Seminary in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and served as a parish priest and high school teacher there after he was ordained in 1975.

His bishop then sent him to the Gregorian University in Rome to study canon law, which Burke admitted he at first wasn't enthusiastic about.