VATICAN CITY (VATICAN CITY)
Where Peter Is [Beltsville MD]
June 20, 2024
By Mike Lewis
Today, June 20, 2024, the disgraced former apostolic nuncio to the US, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, posted on X that an “extrajudicial trial for schism” against him is scheduled to begin today at 3:30 p.m., at the Palace of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). He shared an image of the summons from the DDF, dated June 11 and signed by Msgr. John J. Kennedy, the Secretary for the Disciplinary Section.
Viganò states in his post that he received the notice in a “simple email” and that he is accused “of having committed the crime of schism and charging me of having denied the legitimacy of ‘Pope Francis,’ of having broken communion ‘with Him’ and of having rejected the Second Vatican Council.” He adds, “I assume that the sentence has already been prepared, given that it is an extrajudicial process.”
In the summons, Msgr. Kennedy refers to “the decision of the Congress of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith of 10 May 2024 concerning the initiation of the extrajudicial penal trial coram this Dicastery” and “the Decree of 3 June 2024 which appointed the Judge of the trial, the Assessors, and the Notary, officials of the Dicastery.” The letter also advised Viganò that if he does not appear or provide a written defense by June 28, he will be judged in his absence.
America’s Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell reported that “Viganó presented himself this afternoon, June 20, and deposited his written defense, which was subsequently published in a blog of a supporter of his.” Vatican reporter Diane Montagna posted a link to Viganò’s “response” on his Exsurge Domini website. This seems to be the text that O’Connell is describing — a longer version of Viganò’s post on X.
Excerpt:
I regard the accusations against me as an honor. I believe that the very wording of the charges confirms the theses that I have repeatedly defended in my various addresses. It is no coincidence that the accusation against me concerns the questioning of the legitimacy of Jorge Mario Bergoglio and the rejection of Vatican II: the Council represents the ideological, theological, moral, and liturgical cancer of which the Bergoglian “synodal church” is the necessary metastasis.
According to Kennedy’s letter, the accusation of the crime of schism is based on his “public statements which result in a denial of the elements necessary to maintain communion with the Catholic Church: denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis, rupture of communion with Him, and rejection of the Second Vatican Council.” Canon law defines schism as “the withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him” (CIC 751).
The case against Viganò seems fairly clear-cut. I wrote recently on my Substack about Viganò’s open declaration of sedevacantism, which is not only a refusal of submission to the pope, but a failure to even recognize the pope. Bishop James Powers of Superior, Wisconsin, released a statement on April 5 accusing Viganò of defamation, and also asking for clarification about claims that Viganò illicitly ordained a man named Bryan Wallman (aka Fr. Ambrose) who was operating a “Hermitage” in his diocese without episcopal approval. Bishop Powers noted that “Without proof of a valid ordination to the priesthood, Bryan Wallman is putting the spiritual lives of some of my people in danger.”
I have noted in the past on X that Viganò was said to have been living in his hometown of Varese, in northern Italy close to Milan, where he was illicitly ordaining men to the priesthood and the diaconate at the local chapel where the traditional Ambrosian liturgy was celebrated. He was also known to collaborate with the Holocaust-denying former SSPX bishop Richard Williamson.
At this point, counting up all of the possible canonical crimes against Vigano — besides his sedevacantism and performing illicit ordinations — would be an impossible task. From the violations of pontifical secret in his initial “testimony” in August 2018 to his countless statements expressing unhinged opposition to papal authority and the Second Vatican Council in the six years that followed, many observers wonder why this didn’t happen long ago. Robert Fastiggi made a convincing case that he was in schism all the way back in 2020.
Perhaps after the outcome of the trial is announced, the US bishops who have publicly expressed support for Vigano will have the humility to apologize to the Church and to Pope Francis for their grave error.
As we approach the closing session of the global synod this October, there are signs that a reckoning in the Church is underway and that Catholics who resist the pope will finally have to choose whether to follow Peter or go their own way.