His father was a Scotsman and his mother was a Chilean of English and Basque descent.
[1] His first job, in 1926, was on the staff of the newly founded publishing firm Sheed and Ward.
At Longmans he backed Graham Greene's project to write about the persecution of the Catholic Church in Mexico, which led directly to The Lawless Roads (1939) (US title Another Mexico), and indirectly to The Power and the Glory (1940).
[2] From 1940 to 1944 he was press attaché to Sir Samuel Hoare, British ambassador to Spain.
The furore over Humanae Vitae was his first challenge as editor, and Burns, quoting John Henry Newman, decided to take the line "to conscience first and to the Pope afterwards".