The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (the former Holy Office), at the head of which sits the cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandezsummoned Monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò so that “he can take note of the accusations and evidence regarding the crime of schism of which he is accused (public statements from which one denial of the elements necessary to maintain communion with the Church Catholic: denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis, breaking of communion with him and rejection of the Second Vatican Council)”. Viganò himself talks about the Council like a “ideological, theological, moral and liturgical cancer”.
The accused himself was the one who published the copy of the Dicastery’s decree on social media: the text states that Viganò should have presented himself at the Vatican this afternoon or appointed a defender, otherwise one would have been appointed ex officio. “I assume that the sentence is already ready toogiven the extrajudicial process” specifies the person concerned.
“I believe that the very wording of the charges confirms the theses that I have repeatedly supported in my interventions. It is no coincidence that the accusation against me concerns the questioning of the legitimacy of Jorge Mario Bergoglio and the rejection of Vatican II” explains the prelate in his post on X, in which he communicates the decision of the former Holy Office.
Viganò, in September 2018, was the protagonist of one sensational letter on the case of the American cardinal Theodore McCarrick, “harasser of seminarians” and “covered by Pope Francis” himself, accused the former Nuncio to the United States. The letter closed by asking for the Pope’s resignation from his ministry. That story, fully clarified by the Holy See with the publication of a detailed report in November 2020, which denied the former Nuncio across the board, is not the subject of the document published in the X account, recalls Vatican News. Viganò would instead be accused, according to his account, of not recognizing the legitimacy of the Pontiff nor that of the last Council. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has not commented in any way on the announcement published on social media.
The former Nuncio to the USA, close to the most conservative circles of Catholicism overseas, who in addition to criticizing Pope francescogoing as far as asking for his resignation, he convincingly supports positions anti-vaxanti-scientists, anti-migrants And anti-gaycommented: “I consider the charges against me an honour. No Catholic worthy of the name can be in communion with it Bergoglian church because it acts in evident discontinuity and rupture with all the Popes of history and with the Church of Christ” underlined Viganò, inviting us to pray for “those who are persecuted because of their faith”.
