Jimmy Akin clarifies the situation surrounding Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and the Vatican. Jimmy highlights Viganò’s public statements rejecting the authority of Pope Francis and accusing him of heresy and schism, actions that clearly constitute schism and trigger automatic excommunication.
Transcript:
This one comes from Ryan. I recently saw a quote showing Archbishop Viganò saying good things about the pope, but I don’t understand what did he do that irked the Vatican to the point of excommunicating him after finding him guilty of schism, excuse me, of a schism charge. Did he let his attachment to the Latin mass and his displeasure at the pope’s 2021 document on that get the better of him, or is it possible this situation is being blown out of proportion?
So the first thing I’d say is the Vatican did not excommunicate Archbishop Viganò. It ruled that he had excommunicated himself because if you commit schism, that triggers automatic excommunication. So he excommunicated himself. That’s what they ruled. I prefer not to speculate on what leads people to do things unless they tell us this is what led me to do this. And as far as I’ve seen, although he has an appreciation for the traditional Latin mass, I haven’t seen anywhere that he’s said that the restrictions that Pope Francis put on the traditional Latin mass were what led him away from the church.
And I’ve looked at his writings, and this has not been blown out of proportion. Here’s what Archbishop Viganò has said. One thing he said is, “As I stated in my communique of June 20th, I do not recognize the authority of the tribunal that claims to judge me.” That’s the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Or nor its prefect. Okay, so that’s Cardinal Fernandez. Nor of the one who appointed him. So that’s Pope Francis. So he’s just said, “I don’t recognize the authority of Pope Francis.” Now the definition of schism is a refusal of submission to the Roman pontiff. And if you say you don’t recognize his authority, you’re in schism. This is open and shut.
He went on to say, now he said it, he committed a schismatic act in that first statement I read sort of implicitly. But later on in the same document, he says, “Before my brothers in the episcopate and the entire ecclesial body, I accuse Jorge, Murillo, Pragolio of heresy and schism. And I ask that he be judged as a heretic and schismatic and removed from the throne, which he is unworthily occupied for over 11 years.” So he thinks that the Pope is a schismatic and a heretic beyond. And so, okay, it’s clear he is refusing submission to the Roman pontiff. And therefore it is very clear that Archbishop Viganò is in schism and triggered an automatic excommunication and therefore excommunicated himself.
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