Archbishop Vigano answers critics, challenges others to speak out

October 19, 2018

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano has issued a third public testimony, answering the criticism of Cardinal Marc Ouellet and challenging other prelates to speak out against corruption in the Church.

In his new message, released on the feast of the North American martyrs, Archbishop Vigano insists that Vatican authorities were aware of homosexual activity by former cardinal Theodore McCarrick by November 2000. He repeats his charge that the disgraced prelate was protected by a powerful homosexual network, and says that “the evidence for homosexual collusion, with its deep roots that are so difficult to eradicate, is overwhelming.”

The Italian archbishop, who was once apostolic nuncio in the United States, adds the charge that the complaints against McCarrick included “attempting to give sacramental absolution to accomplices in perverse acts, with subsequent sacrilegious celebration of Mass.” Such a charge would be a grave violation of canon law, punishable by excommunication.

Much of Archbishop Vigano’s third message is devoted to answering Cardinal Ouellet’s angry public denunciation. The archbishop clarifies the sequence of events in which he spoke to Pope Francis about McCarrick’s misbehavior, and emphasizes that existing Vatican documents will confirm his charges. Pointing out that Cardinal Ouellet had inserted some qualifying statements when he denied the existence of such documentary evidence, Archbishop Vigano repeats emphatically that “he has in his archives key documents—irrespective of provenance—incriminating McCarrick and documenting the measures taken in his regard, and other proofs on the cover-up regarding his situation.”

In this third public statement, Archbishop Vigano says that he was reluctant to criticize the Roman Pontiff, but felt morally obligated to do so, noting that he “must soon give an accounting to the Judge for his actions and omissions.” He says that he knew his testimony would be controversial, and would dismay many Catholics, but he concluded “that my continued silence would put many souls at risk, and would certainly damn my own.”

The widespread confusion in the Church today, the archbishop writes, is a consequence of the unfortunate situation in which “the successor of Peter is negligent in exercising his principal mission, which is to confirm the brothers in the faith and in sound moral doctrine.” Under such circumstances, he argues, it is necessary for other bishops to speak out. “For it is the conspiracy of silence that has wrought and continues to wreak great harm in the Church.”

Archbishop Vigano concludes his latest statement with a challenge to other bishops to follow his lead and speak out:

In closing, I wish to repeat my appeal to my brother bishops and priests who know that my statements are true and who can so testify, or who have access to documents that can put the matter beyond doubt. You too are faced with a choice. You can choose to withdraw from the battle, to prop up the conspiracy of silence and avert your eyes from the spreading of corruption. You can make excuses, compromises and justification that put off the day of reckoning. You can console yourselves with the falsehood and the delusion that it will be easier to tell the truth tomorrow, and then the following day, and so on.

On the other hand, you can choose to speak.

 

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Further information:

• Archbishop Vigano's Third Testimony