Vatican excommunicates former ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, and declares him guilty of schism

A provocative conservative who became one of Pope Francis' most ardent critics has been excommunicated by the Vatican.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Vatican ambassador to the United States, has been found guilty of schism, the Vatican's doctrinal commission handed down the sentence after a meeting of its members on Thursday, a press release said on Friday.

The office cited as reasoning for the decision Viganò's “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.”

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, then apostolic nuncio to the United States, listens to remarks at the annual fall meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. Patrick Semansky/AP

The Vatican excommunication means that Viganò is formally outside the Church and cannot celebrate or receive its sacraments, for having committed one of the most serious crimes in canon law: schism. A schism occurs when someone withdraws from submission to the pope or from the communion of Catholics subject to him.

It is seen as particularly dangerous to the faith because it threatens the unity of the Church. And in fact, Vigano has built a following of like-minded conservatives and traditionalists over the years as he has delved deeper into conspiracy theories about everything from the coronavirus pandemic to what he has called the “Great Reset” and other fringe ideas.

Viganò, then a special envoy to Washington, also made headlines during Pope Francis’ 2015 visit to the United States, which he helped organize as nuncio. All was well until Viganò arranged for Kim Davis, a Kentucky court clerk at the center of the same-sex marriage debate in the United States, to be among a small group of people at the Vatican residence to greet Francis.

Davis had gained notoriety by refusing to issue all marriage certificates rather than being required to issue certificates to same-sex couples. She became a heroine of the American conservative right, with which Vigano had increasingly identified during the American culture wars over gay marriage and religious freedom.

After the visit ended, Davis and his lawyers claimed that the meeting with Pope Francis amounted to a vindication of his cause. The Vatican later reversed that claim by releasing footage of what it said was the “only” private audience Pope Francis had in Washington: with a small group of people, including a gay couple.

Vigano's deception in inviting Davis to meet the pope appears to have set the two men on a collision course that exploded in August 2018.

Viganò, who retired in 2016 at age 75, rocked the Holy See with sexual abuse accusations in 2018, prompting calls for Francis to resign.

As Francis wrapped up a tense visit to Ireland, Viganò claimed in an 11-page letter that in 2013 he had informed the pontiff of sexual abuse allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the U.S. church’s top official. But, he wrote, the pontiff ignored that and allowed McCarrick to continue serving the church for another five years in public. He said the pope should resign and later called him a “false prophet” and “a servant of Satan.”

In his letter, Viganò also makes a number of ideological statements and criticizes homosexuals within the Church. He provides no evidence to support his statements.

These accusations were explosive and helped create the greatest crisis of Francis' young pontificate.

The Vatican has rejected the accusation of a cover-up of sexual misconduct and last month summoned Viganò to answer accusations of schism and denial of the pope's legitimacy.

Viganò, who considered the accusations “an honor,” said he refused to participate in the disciplinary proceedings because he did not accept the legitimacy of the institutions that support it.

“I do not recognize the authority of the court that claims to judge me, nor of its prefect, nor of the one who appointed him,” he said in a statement released last week, referring to the head of the doctrinal office, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, and to Francis.

Viganò reiterated his rejection of the Second Vatican Council, calling it “an ideological, theological, moral and liturgical cancer of which the 'synodal Church' (of Francis) is the necessary metastasis.”

He has not yet commented on the Vatican's decision on X, his usual forum. About an hour before the Vatican decree was made public, he announced that he would celebrate a Mass on Friday for those who support him and ask for donations.

McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after an internal Vatican investigation found he had sexually abused adults as well as children.

More information on CBS News

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