The Vatican has taken the rare and severe step of excommunicating Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a prominent ultra-conservative critic of Pope Francis and a supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump. This decision underscores the extent to which Viganò, the Vatican’s former ambassador to the United States, has crossed the line by refusing to recognize the authority of the pope and the liberal reforms introduced by the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
Viganò has been a vocal critic of Pope Francis, even calling for his resignation and labeling him as “a servant of Satan.” This excommunication indicates that Pope Francis, who has faced conservative criticism since the beginning of his papacy, may be losing patience with his most vehement detractors within the church hierarchy. Viganò’s transformation from a critic of the church’s handling of clerical abuse to a fringe conservative figure embracing conspiracy theories has been notable. Recently, he retweeted a post from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) claiming that “the covid vaccines are killing people.”
The Vatican’s decision followed a formal decree issued by its disciplinary body, the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, on June 20. The decree assigned Viganò to a penal canon trial for the “crime of schism” and “denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis.” The Dicastery stated, “His public statements manifesting his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to him, and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council are well known.” At the conclusion of the penal process, Viganò was found guilty of the reserved delict of schism.
The summary judgment by the Vatican can only be overturned by a ruling from the pope or the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith acting in his name. The excommunication means that Viganò cannot officially accept Catholic sacraments, including Communion, ordain priests, or officiate Mass. While he does not immediately lose his clerical title, defrocking could follow if he remains unrepentant. In 2006, the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI excommunicated Emmanuel Milingo, a Zambian archbishop, for similar reasons, and he was defrocked three years later.
Davide Cito, a canon lawyer and deputy rector at Rome’s Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, suggested that the step of defrocking was not taken immediately in the hopes that Viganò might repent. However, repentance seems unlikely for the 83-year-old Italian prelate, who did not even appear at his own trial, arguing that he did not recognize the authority of Pope Francis or the Vatican officials under him. On Friday, he posted on X that he would continue to say Mass for his supporters in defiance of the Vatican’s ruling and called for donations to his Exsurge Domine foundation, which offers “traditional training” to seminarians.
The crime of schism is defined as a rupture with the church’s “unity” under the pope. The Vatican cited Viganò’s public statements that have “resulted in a denial of the elements necessary to maintain communion with the Catholic Church,” as well as his rejection of Francis’s “legitimacy” and the reforms laid out by the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s.
While Pope Francis has largely tolerated dissent for years, this has begun to change, especially since the appointment of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, a longtime ally of Francis, as the new head of the Vatican’s disciplinary arm. Since Fernández’s appointment, the Holy See has acted more swiftly to defend the pope. Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, a major critic of Francis, was stripped of his diocese, and American Cardinal Raymond Burke lost his pension and Rome apartment.
Among the pope’s critics, Viganò stands out. He was once considered a favorite among conservative U.S. Catholics wary of Francis and the more open church he represents. In 2015, Viganò, then the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., arranged for Francis to meet Kim Davis, a Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. The meeting, initiated by conservative evangelicals, angered some Catholics and forced the pope’s aides to do damage control. Viganò was recalled as U.S. ambassador in 2016.
Two years later, Viganò made headlines with a bombshell letter accusing Francis of misconduct, claiming that the pope had ignored early warnings about Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., who had resigned amid allegations of sexual abuse. Three weeks before the Vatican announced Viganò’s trial, he published fresh allegations on X, claiming that Francis had committed the “same abuses” as McCarrick when serving in Argentina, though he offered no evidence.
Viganò’s attacks escalated after a December ruling, authorized by Francis, allowing Catholic priests to conduct short blessings of people in same-sex relationships. In his lengthy response to the trial, Viganò wrote, “Bergoglio authorizes the blessing of same-sex couples and imposes on the faithful the acceptance of homosexualism, while covering up the scandals of his protégés and promoting them to the highest positions of responsibility.”
Alejandro Bermudez, founder of the Catholic News Agency and a longtime conservative Catholic journalist, noted that while many conservative Catholics critical of Francis appreciated some of Viganò’s points, they drew the line when he directly claimed the pope wasn’t legitimate and began issuing hyperbolic attacks. “The key thing is the timeline,” Bermudez said. “It goes from a very credible Viganò to a train wreck.”
Source: The Washington Post, The New York Times
