The Vatican has ex-communicated an archbishop and its former ambassador (papal nuncio) to the United States, Carlo Maria Vigano, from the Catholic Church.
Vigano, 83, who questioned the legitimacy of Pope Francis and portions of the Second Vatican Council, was punished for the canonical crime of schism.
Canon law defines schism as a “refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”
A press statement from the Holy See, said the priest was informed of his ex-communication on Friday July 5.
“His public statements manifesting his refusal to recognise 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,” the statement said.
“At the conclusion of the penal process, the Most Reverend Carlo Maria Vigano was found guilty of the reserved delict of schism,” it added.
Two weeks ago, the Catholic Church’s disciplinary body known as Vatican Department of Faith (Vatican’s Inquisition) issued a decree summoning Vigano to an extrajudicial trial in Rome for the crime of schism.
However, he failed to appear though he had posted on X that his sentence “has already been prepared, given that it is an extrajudicial process.”
Vigano, an Italian, said in a statement on June 20 that he regarded the charges against him “an honour.”
With the decision to excommunicate him, the archbishop would no longer partake in Catholic sacraments, including communion. Also, he will not ordain priests or officiate Mass.
Vigano had in the recent past asked Pope Francis, who he calls Jorge Mario Bergolio, to resign.
Four years ago, the archbishop alleged that a cabal of leaders with the Catholic Church was allowing “heresy, sodomy and corruption” in the institution.
Vigano had written the then U.S. President, Donald Trump, alleging that there was a “deep church” promoting evil. He described the group as “mercenary infidels who seek to scatter the flock and hand the sheep over to be devoured by ravenous wolves.”
He had also alleged in 2018 that some former and current high-level Catholic officials covered up accusations of sexual abuse against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
He specifically accused Pope Francis of ignoring sanctions recommended against McCarrick and demanded his (Pope) resignation in order to “set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up MaCarrick’s abuses.”
He had said, “Bergolio (Pope) does not want to oust homosexual seminarians and priests; he rather wants to complete the work of infiltration and corruption of the Clergy through homosexuality and pedophilia, so that by declassifying the serious sinfulness of sodomy and corruption of minors the door opens on the civil front to decriminalization of these crimes.”