From Gerard O'Connell at America Magazine:
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has been declared excommunicated for schism by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Vatican dicastery, however, opted not to remove him from the clerical state, though canon law does not exclude that penalty...The archbishop has stated that he does not recognize the legitimacy of Pope Francis and said, “I reject and condemn the scandals, errors and heresies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio,” adding, “with this ‘Bergoglian church,’ no Catholic worthy of the name can be in communion.”...The Code of Canon Law considers excommunication as a “medicinal” penalty whose aim is to invite the offender to repentance. As such, there is always the hope that the subject of excommunication will return to communion.
His downward spiral is remarkable. It was not that long ago he was in the upper echelon of the Vatican's diplomatic corps. His story reminds me in some ways of Rudy Giuliani's. Both are grievous.
A sign of how far he has fallen, is the Traditionist SPXX group will not touch him with a ten-foot pole:
ReplyDeletehttps://cruxnow.com/vatican/2024/06/traditionalist-sspx-group-distances-itself-from-vigano-archbishop-accused-of-schism
The problem is that Vigano has become a "sedevacantist"
The SSPX in their statement said there is one point which “significantly differentiates” Viganò from Lefebvre, and this difference is that “Archbishop Viganò makes a clear declaration of sedevacantism in his text. In other words, according to him, Pope Francis is not pope.”
There may be a lot of traditionalist Catholics who wish Francis was not Pope, but it is way out to deny that he is Pope. Not many of them are going to follow him down that path, and SPSS has made clear to its followers that it is not going that way likely forever because its founder did not take that road.
I have to think that this is the outcome Vigano wanted, because he certainly did not make any effort to avoid it.
ReplyDeleteJim, I think the comparison with Rudy Guiliani is apt. In both instances I wonder if there is some mental issue going on.
Katherine, I agree re: a possible mental issue.
ReplyDeleteVigano got a lot of favorable press (of a right-wing Catholic sort) a few years ago when he first started going after Francis. To their shame, a number of conservative bishops vouched for his credibility. Maybe he thought he had a following.