The Vatican said Friday that
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Holy See's former Apostolic
Nuncio to the United States, has been excommunicated by the
Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith for the canonical crime
of schism.
The 83-year-old ultra conservative is a big critic of Pope
Francis.
In 2018 he called on Francis to resign, saying he was part of a
"cover-up" involving former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who the
pope subsequently defrocked over sexual-assault allegations.
Viganò is also one of the Catholic conservatives to have
criticized Francis for opening up to gays and remarried
divorcés, and for bemoaning unfettered capitalism and climate
change.
"On 4 July 2024, the Congress of the Dicastery for the Doctrine
of the Faith met to conclude the extrajudicial penal process
referred to in canon 1720 CIC against the Most Reverend Carlo
Maria Viganò, titular Archbishop of Ulpiana, accused of the
reserved delict of schism," the Vatican said in a statement.
"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, the Most Reverend Carlo
Maria Viganò was found guilty of the reserved delict of schism.
"The Dicastery declared the latae sententiae excommunication...
"The lifting of the censure in these cases is reserved to the
Apostolic See.
"This decision was communicated to the Most Reverend Viganò on 5
July 2024".
After being put on trial, Viganò said he considered the
accusations against him "an honour," describing the Second
Vatican Council as an "ideological, theological, moral, and
liturgical cancer," of which "the Synodal Church" is a
"metastasis."
In letters that went public in the Vatileaks scandal, Viganò
also said he was moved from a previous role as governor of the
Vatican city state for clamping down on corruption.
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