When Benedict appointed von Freyberg as pres. of IOR, his membership in the KofM was seldom mentioned because they are an unimportant charitable organization. It was unanimously reported in 2014, that the pope was demoting Burke to a "ceremonial position" in an unimportant charitable organization. Previously, Burke was the ordinary in a mid-size city, removed to the Vatican where he did not participate in any adjudications. KofM officials have unanimously attested that Burke had nothing to do with the long-simmering differences between Festing and Boeselager, just as Boeselager has confirmed in today's article. Burke is a small man in a small job raised to importance by the US media only to falsely give the pope a nemesis with stature. 
Before the second synod, 13 cardinals of great importance (Pell, Dolan, Muller, DiNardo, Napier, Collins) wrote the pope protesting that he was rigging the synod. This received no coverage in the US because the "boogyman" Burke's name was missing.