Cardinal Burke seems determined to provoke confrontation. As you suggest, Francis may welcome it inasmuch as the reform work he is undertaking is meeting with resistance that is wider and deeper than the four cardinals pressing the 'dubia.' It may suit his purposes to have it out with the leader of the resistance.  Over the course of his life, the man who is now Pope Francis has never been hesitant to meet confrontation head-on. Surely at this point in his life, and with so much at stake, he will not be deterred or sidetracked by Ray Burke.