Far-right Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganó once accused Pope Francis of covering up the sexual abuse scandal surrounding American ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. File Photo by Giuseppe Giglia/EPA-EFE
July 5 (UPI) — The Vatican said Friday it excommunicated Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a former Vatican ambassador to the United States and a staunch critic of Pope Francis.
Viganò was found guilty of schism — meaning he has split from the church — for refusing to recognize the authority of the pope and the liberal reforms enacted after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, according to a statement from the Vatican.
“The Most Reverend Carlo Maria Vigano was found guilty of the reserved delict [violation of the law] of schism,” the statement read.
The archbishop responded to the verdict in a post on X, where he linked to the decree that the Vatican sent him.
“What was attributed to me as guilt for my conviction is now put on record, confirming the Catholic Faith that I fully profess,” his post read.
The ultra-conservative archbishop, who served as papal ambassador to Washington, D.C., from 2011 to 2016, emerged as one of Pope Francis’ fiercest critics over his support of immigrants, leniency toward LGBTQ people and a pro-vaccine position.
Viganó in 2018 went into hiding after he penned a letter calling for the pope to resign and accusing him of covering up sexual abuse by American ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
He also in public statements called the pontiff a “false prophet” and a “servant of Satan.”
Since then, he has aligned himself with far-right conspiracy theories criticizing COVID-19 vaccines and accusing Western “deep state” powers of igniting the war in Ukraine.
The Vatican in June charged Viganó with schism and summoned him to Rome to appear before the tribunal in charge of religious discipline, but he refused the summons, saying in a statement that he did not recognize the tribunal’s authority.
“I repudiate, reject, and condemn the scandals, errors and heresies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio,” he said at the time of the charges, using the Argentinian pontiff’s given name.
Viganó’s excommunication means he will no longer be able to observe Mass, receive or administer sacraments or hold official positions within the church. He will, however, be able to keep his title.
Pope Francis has punished other far-right opponents within the church. Last year he fired Bishop Joseph Strickland from his diocese in Tyler, Texas. Strickland was a leading voice among American conservative Catholics who criticized the liberal reforms of the Vatican.
Cardinal Raymond Burke, who accused Francis of diluting Catholic doctrine, was evicted from his Vatican-subsidized apartment last year, as well.
The pope in 2022 defrocked the Rev. Frank Pavone, leader of the anti-abortion group Priests for Life, after he was found guilty of “blasphemous communications on social media, and of persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop,” according to the Vatican.
Pavone argued he had not been properly notified of the decision, and the letter did not specify what communications or disobediences led to the decision.