Conservative Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò says he is accused of splitting the church and denying the pontiff’s legitimacy.
Former papal nuncio to the United States, Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, announced that he has been charged with schism by the Vatican’s doctrinal office after a six-year period in which he called for Pope Francis to resign and labeled him a “false prophet.”
He Will Be Put on Trial
On June 20, the archbishop posted on his own website a two-page decree from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith ordering him to appear for a trial regarding “public statements that show a denial of points necessary for the preservation of communion with the Catholic Church.”
The decree is dated June 11 and is signed by Msgr. John Kennedy, secretary of the doctrinal office’s disciplinary section. He requested that Viganò present himself on June 20 at 15:30 to receive the accusation and evidence against him formally.
In 2018, Viganò penned an 11-page letter alleging a widespread Vatican cover-up of allegations against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and called on Francis to resign. Since then, many of the claims he alleged have been discredited, but the Italian archbishop has support from some right-wing Catholics for his support of former U.S. President Donald Trump, opposition to the COVID-19 vaccines, alleged spreading of conspiracy theories, and his outright rejection of the Second Vatican Council.
Carlo Maria Viganò, 83, was the Vatican’s ambassador to the US from 2011 to 2016. He said the powerful department of doctrine had summoned him on Thursday to hear the charges.
He Is Accused of Schism
Viganò said the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith accused him “of having committed the crime of schism.” Schism is splitting the Catholic church. He posted in several languages on X.
He was also charged with “having denied the legitimacy of ‘Pope Francis’, of having broken communion ‘with Him’, and of having rejected the Second Vatican Council” in the 1960s, which set the church on a modernzing path, Viganò wrote.
The retired Italian archbishop said he was facing an “extrajudicial penal trial,” an accelerated process.
Archbishop Vigano’s Reaction
“I regard the accusations against me as an honor,” he said before launching into a lengthy criticism of the pope.
He argued against Francis’s welcome for undocumented migrants, his “delirious encyclicals” about climate change, and the authorization of blessings for same-sex couples and accused him of promoting his allies.
Archbishop Vigano said, “I repudiate, reject, and condemn the scandals, errors, and heresies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He added that Pope Francis manifests an absolutely tyrannical management of power.”
He called for Francis to resign. He accused him notably of having ignored sexual assault allegations against a then-top US cardinal, Theodore McCarrick. McCarrick was defrocked by Francis the following year.
Viganò complained in leaked letters to the pope that he was being hounded out for stamping out fraud.
They should get Judge Merchan. I’m sure he can get Pope Francis the verdict he wants.
Translation in English of the Vatican letter: pic.twitter.com/f4D5dNFiha
— Arcivescovo Carlo Maria Viganò (@CarloMVigano) June 20, 2024
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He is calling out the False Prophets and suffering the same fate of the O.T. Prophets and Jesus Christ. I just hope they don’t burn him at the stake like they did in the Inquisition!
Wow…radical Leftists operate the same way, whether they’re the POTUS or the Pope.
I doubt any of Vigano’s claims have been discredited. The allegations against McCarrick come from many sources, and Francis has shielded him.
Vigano has no obligation to show up. The event seems like the trial of Thomas More.
The real Catholic Church is a group of people like Vigano and many others, it is growing.
Vigano went off the rails a long time ago.
You never were on rails. Your personal attack had no substance. You were unable to refute anything Vigano said.
Perhaps you support sexual abuse, invasion, theft, global communism, and so on.
One recent example is the fake pope meeting with a group of deranged sinners, and treating them like saints. One was Whoopi, with her 6 admitted abortions.
“You never were on rails.”
Quite a stark remark when you don’t know who I am.
“Your personal attack had no substance.”
A personal attack involves things like name-calling, ad hominem, etc. It does not refer to describing a person’s actions and the practical effects they have had.
“You were unable to refute anything Vigano said.”
Risible. I’ve been in communication with Vigano.
“Perhaps you support sexual abuse, invasion, theft, global communism, and so on.”
See response #1.
“One recent example is the fake pope meeting with a group of deranged sinners, and treating them like saints. One was Whoopi, with her 6 admitted abortions.”
Mark 2:13-17, sans treating people like saints before the fact.
You must be a pedophile.
And people wonder why there are designations such as “Alt-Right,” “Fringe,” and “Reactionary.”
The Pope isn’t putting Vigano on trial he’s putting catholic doctrine and the Bible on trial.