Vatican expels ultra-conservative archbishop after criticizing Pope

The Vatican has excommunicated Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò from the church. Viganò, who’s 83, was the ambassador to the USA for the Catholic Church for a very long time. The ultraconservative archbishop was an outspoken opponent of Pope Francis.

Viganò, the papal ambassador to Washington from 2011 to 2016, brought about a stir in 2018 after charged that Pope Francis had been conscious of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sexual misconduct for years. Viganò mentioned the pope ought to resign, calling him a “false prophet” and “servant of Devil.” He additionally requested the Pope’s bodyguard to be arrested.

The Vatican has at all times opposed the accusations towards Pope Francis. The church wrote in an announcement at this time that Viganò doesn’t acknowledge the authority of the pope together with his statements and that he’s in search of division inside the church. Viganò didn’t need to cooperate within the disciplinary proceedings of the church.

Within the Vatican assertion on the so-called Viganò excommunication the pope was not talked about by identify, however it’s unlikely that the punishment was imposed with out Francis’ approval.

Final yr, Francis took motion towards one other conservative critic from the US. Then got here Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Texas excommunicatedafter refusing to resign following an investigation.

It is extremely particular that the Vatican exhibits the archbishop the door. Often a senior church chief who has to depart resigns, after which the Pope accepts. It isn’t clear why the sentence was solely imposed years after Viganò’s statements.

Now that Viganò has been formally excommunicated, he’s now not allowed to take part in Catholic worship, the Eucharist or different church ceremonies. He’s additionally not allowed to carry church positions.

Viganò, who primarily communicates by the X platform, has not but responded. Final week he mentioned he refused to take part within the disciplinary proceedings as a result of he didn’t settle for the legitimacy of the establishments behind them.