View source for Biography:Carlo Maria Viganò

{{short description|Retired diplomat of the Holy See}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| name = Carlo Maria Viganò
| honorific-suffix = 
| title = ''Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus of United States''<br />''Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana''
| image = Carlo Maria Viganò in 2013.jpg
| image_size = 
| alt = 
| caption = Archbishop Carlo Viganò during Palm Sunday, circa 2013.
| church = [[Organization:Catholic Church|Catholic Church]]
| appointed = 19 October 2011
| retired = 12 April 2016
| predecessor = Pietro Sambi
| successor = Christophe Pierre
| other_post = Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana
| previous_post = {{bulleted list | Secretary-General of the Governorate of the Vatican City State (2009–2011) | Official of Secretariat of State (1998–2009) | Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria (1992–1998) | Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Council of Europe (1989-1992) }}
<!---------- Orders ---------->| ordination = 24 March 1968
| ordained_by = Carlo Allorio
| consecration = 26 April 1992
| birth_name = Carlo Maria Viganò
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1941|01|16}}
| birth_place = Varese, [[History:Kingdom of Italy|Italy]]
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| buried = 
| nationality = Italian
| alma_mater = Pontifical Gregorian University
| motto = {{lang-la|Scio cui credidi}} ("I know him in whom I have believed", 2 Timothy 1:12)
| coat_of_arms = Coat of arms of Carlo Maria Viganò.svg
| signature = 
| consecrated_by = [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]]
}}
{{Infobox bishop styles
|name=Carlo Maria Viganò
|relstyle=[[Religion:Archbishop|Archbishop]]
|deathstyle=
|image = Coat of arms of Carlo Maria Viganò.svg
|image_size = 250px 
|bishop name=Carlo Maria Viganò}}

'''Carlo Maria Viganò''' ({{IPA-it|vigaˈnɔ}}; born 16 January 1941) is a bishop of the [[Organization:Catholic Church|Catholic Church]] who served as the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States 2011 to 2016. He previously served as [[Religion:Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State|secretary-general of the Governorate of Vatican City State]] from 2009 to 2011. He is best known for having publicized two major Vatican scandals. These were the Vatican leaks scandal of 2012, in which he revealed financial corruption in the Vatican, and a 2018 letter in which he accused Pope Francis and other Catholic Church leaders of covering up sexual abuse allegations against former [[Religion:Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]] Theodore McCarrick.

Viganò was [[Religion:Ordination#Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches|ordained]] a priest in 1968 and spent most of his career working in a diplomatic capacity for the [[Organization:Holy See|Holy See]]. As a priest, he served on a number of diplomatic missions before being consecrated a bishop by [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] in 1992. Viganò was appointed secretary general of the Vatican City Governatorate in 2009, where he reformed the finances of [[Religion:Vatican City|Vatican City]] and turned a budget deficit into a surplus. He complained directly to [[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Pope Benedict XVI]] about financial corruption. The unauthorized publication of two of his letters led to the Vatican leaks scandal, exposing financial mismanagement and wrongdoing in the Vatican. He was then transferred to the position of apostolic nuncio to the United States in 2011 over his objections. While in the United States, Viganò earned a reputation as a conservative, arranging a controversial meeting between Pope Francis and former county clerk Kim Davis, known for her opposition to same-sex marriage, during the Pope's 2015 visit to the United States. A priest accused him of suppressing allegations of sexual misconduct against Archbishop John Clayton Nienstedt, but he denied doing so.

On August 25, 2018, Viganò published an 11-page letter accusing Pope Francis and numerous other senior church leaders of concealing allegations of sexual misconduct against McCarrick. Viganò stated that Pope Benedict XVI imposed sanctions on McCarrick in response to accusations that were made against him, but that Pope Francis refused to enforce them and that he made McCarrick an important advisor. Viganò called on Francis to resign. The letter provoked diverse reactions within the church, with some expressing support for the allegations and calling for further investigation and others defending Francis, questioning the statements made in the letter, and attacking Viganò's credibility.

After the publication of this letter, Viganò continued to issue public statements which aligned him with political positions of the far right and conspiracy theories. He has also grown close to traditionalist Catholicism, rejecting the Second Vatican Council and the Mass of Paul VI, also establishing a traditionalist seminary outside of the Church jurisdiction.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />

==Early life and career==
Carlo Maria Viganò was born 16 January 1941 in Varese, Italy. He was ordained a priest on 24 March 1968. He earned a [[Social:Doctorate|doctorate]] in ''utroque iure'' (both canon and civil law).<ref name="ffhl">{{cite book | url = http://www.ffhl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Vigano_Biography.pdf | title = Biography of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò | website = www.ffhl.org | publisher = Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land | date = 19 March 2015 | access-date = 18 June 2019 | archive-date = 20 September 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200920103723/http://www.ffhl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Vigano_Biography.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref>

On 3 April 1992, he was appointed Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Nigeria by [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]].<ref>{{cite book | access-date = 24 November 2019 | title = Acta Apostolicae Sedis | page= 470 | url = https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-84-1992-ocr.pdf | date= 1992 | volume = LXXXIV }}</ref>

At the close of his mission to Nigeria in 1998, he was assigned to functions within the Secretariat of State as delegate for Pontifical Representations, making him the personnel chief for the Roman curia in addition to Vatican diplomats. He served in this role until he became secretary general of the governatorate on 16 July 2009.<ref name="CathHier">{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bvigano.html |title=Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò |work=Catholic Hierarchy |access-date=26 May 2012}}</ref>

==Secretary general of the Vatican City governatorate ==
In 2009, Viganò was appointed secretary general of the Vatican City governatorate. In that role he established centralized accounting procedures and accountability for cost overruns that reportedly helped turn a US$10.5 million deficit for the city-state into a surplus of $44 million in one year.<ref name="NCR denial">{{cite news|url=http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/vatican-denies-corruption-charges-attributed-us-nuncio | title=Vatican denies corruption charges attributed to U.S. nuncio |newspaper=National Catholic Reporter |date=26 January 2012 |last=Allen |first=John L. | access-date = 16 November 2015}}</ref>

In 2010, Viganò suggested that the Vatican should drop out of the Euro currency agreement in order to avoid new European banking regulations. Instead, the Vatican chose to adhere to the Euro agreement and accept the new scrutiny that tougher banking regulations required.<ref>{{cite news |title=Influential prelate said Vatican should drop Euro, author reports |url=http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=15043 |access-date=27 February 2014 |newspaper=Catholic World News |date=25 July 2012}}</ref>
<!--  Bland quote of no significance 
He spoke at the General Assembly of Interpol in November 2010, saying:\
{{Blockquote |While it is true that globalisation offers opportunities for development and enrichment, it is also true that it can cause increased poverty and hunger, which in turn can spark chain reactions often leading to widely disparate forms of violence. Nor can we underestimate the fact that the fruits of technological and scientific progress can, for all their enormous benefits to humanity, be used in a way that clearly violates the order of creation, even to the point of denying the sacredness of life and stripping the human person and the family of their natural identity. ...The Holy See has always recalled this urgent need, conscious of the fact that the desire for peace, the pursuit of justice, respect for the dignity of the person, humanitarian cooperation and assistance are expressions of the just aspirations of the human spirit and the ideals which ought to undergird international relations. The Holy See has done so vigorously, even in recent days, as for example by intervening in the current debate on disarmament at the United Nations and urging all parties to reach agreement on definitive and complete disarmament.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/26364.php?index=26364&lang=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728141203/http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/26364.php?index=26364&lang=en |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 July 2011 |title=Intevernto del Segretario Generale del Governatorato dello Stato della Città del Vaticano alla 79a Assemblea Generale dell'Interpol (Doha, Qatar)}}</ref>}}
-->
In late January 2012 a television program aired in Italy under the name of ''Gli intoccabili'' (The Untouchables),<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TMkbCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA343 |last= Ivereigh |first= Austen |publisher=Macmillan |title=The Great Reformer |date=2014 |isbn=9781627791571 |page=343}}</ref> purporting to disclose confidential letters and memos of the Vatican.<ref>{{cite news |last=Squires |first=Nick |title=Vatican newspaper editor accused of gay smear against rival |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/9284994/Vatican-newspaper-editor-accused-of-gay-smear-against-rival.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=6 October 2012|location=London |date=23 May 2012}}</ref> Among the documents were letters written to the pope and to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, by Viganò, complaining of corruption in Vatican finances and a campaign of defamation against him. Viganò, formerly the second ranked Vatican administrator to the Pope, requested not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions in higher contract prices.<ref>{{citation | last = Nuzzi| first = Gianluigi| title = Merchants in the Temple |  publisher = Henry Holt and Company | place = New York| year = 2015| page = 25}}</ref>

On 4 February 2012, Giovanni Lajolo, Giuseppe Bertello, Giuseppe Sciacca, and Giorgio Corbellini issued a joint statement on behalf of the governatorate of the Vatican: "The unauthorized publication of two letters of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the first addressed to the Holy Father on March 27, 2011, the second to the Cardinal Secretary of State on May 8, for the Governorate of Vatican City is a source of great bitterness. The allegations contained in them can not but lead to the impression that the Governorate of Vatican City, instead of being an instrument of responsible government, is an unreliable entity, at the mercy of dark forces. After careful examination of the contents of the two letters, the President of the Governorate sees it as its duty to publicly declare that those assertions are the result of erroneous assessments, or fears based on unsubstantiated evidence, even openly contradicted by the main characters invoked as witnesses."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/28748.php?index=28748&lang=en |title=Dichiarazione della Presidenza del Governatorato dello Stato della Citta del Vaticano |date=4 February 2012 |access-date=4 February 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715010210/http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/28748.php?index=28748&lang=en |archive-date=15 July 2012 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

Velasio De Paolis, former head of the Vatican's Prefecture of the Economic Affairs, its auditing office, said, "From what I know, I don't think there was actual corruption." But he did concede the possibility of "instances of a lack of correctness".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/vatican-official-warns-pope-of-corruption/|title=Vatican official warns pope of corruption |work=Seattle Times |agency=Associated Press |date=26 January 2012 |last=Winfield |first=Nicole}}</ref>

Journalist John L. Allen Jr. suggests that Viganò's transfer could have been about a clash of personalities rather than policy. "[T]his would not seem to be about a courageous whistle-blower who's trying to expose wrongdoing or prompt reform. The motives seem more personal and political."<ref name="NCR_2012.02.17">{{cite news |url=http://ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/five-questions-about-vaticans-leaks-scandal |last=Allen Jr. |first= John L. |title=Five questions about the Vatican's leaks scandal |newspaper=National Catholic Reporter |date= 17 February 2012 |access-date=11 March 2016}}</ref>

==Apostolic Nuncio to the United States==
===Appointment and handling of sexual abuse allegations===
On 13 August 2011, Bertone informed Viganò that Pope Benedict was appointing him nuncio to the United States.<ref name="NCR_nuncio_201109">{{cite news |url=http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/new-nuncio-no-stranger-politics |title=New nuncio is no stranger to politics |newspaper=National Catholic Reporter |date=27 September 2011 |last=Allen |first=John L. | access-date = 28 June 2019}}</ref> {{wipe|Reuters}} reported that Viganò was unwilling to take that assignment. Viganò stated that this decision was not what Pope Benedict XVI originally had manifested to him.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.aldomariavalli.it/2018/08/28/parla-vigano-non-sono-il-corvo-e-non-agisco-per-vendetta-voglio-solo-che-la-verita-emerga/|title=Parla Viganò: "Non sono il corvo e non agisco per vendetta. Voglio solo che la verità emerga" - Aldo Maria Valli|work=aldomariavalli.it|access-date=30 August 2018|language=it-IT}}</ref> He wrote to Benedict that his appointment would create "disarray and discouragement" among those who worked against "numerous situations of corruption and waste".<ref name="WaPo262012">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/vatican-refutes-corruption-charges-made-by-ambassador-to-us/2012/02/06/gIQAPcUquQ_story.html |title=Vatican refutes corruption charges made by ambassador to U.S. |last=Speciale |first=Allesandro |date=February 6, 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=May 29, 2020}}</ref> One of the letters leaked by Benedict's butler in 2012 revealed that Viganò had bypassed Bertone and complained directly to Benedict regarding corruption in the Vatican, for which Bertone arranged to have Viganò transferred to Washington over Viganò's objections.<ref>{{cite news |first=Philip |last=Pullella |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-anniversary-curia-insight-idUSBREA2C0UC20140313 |title=In Vatican shake-up, Pope redefines role of second-in-command |access-date=11 March 2016 |date=13 March 2014 |archive-date=28 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128035458/http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/13/us-pope-anniversary-curia-insight-idUSBREA2C0UC20140313 |url-status=live }}</ref> Although Federico Lombardi, the official Vatican spokesperson, had originally said that Benedict held "unquestionable faith and trust" in Viganò, a statement in February 2012 signed by some Vatican leaders said that his allegations were "erroneous," "unfounded," and "based on groundless fears."<ref name="WaPo262012"/>

It was initially reported that Viganò's brother, Lorenzo Viganò, a Jesuit biblical scholar, had said that his brother lied in telling Benedict he needed to stay in Rome to care for his ailing brother, when apparently Lorenzo was healthy, living in Chicago, and had not spoken to his brother for two years.<ref>{{cite news| last1=Tosatti|first1=Marco|title=The secret report Benedict wrote for Francis|url=http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/vatilekas-23479/|work=Vatican Insider|access-date=29 August 2018 | quote =Lorenzo, who lives in Chicago, says in the interview that he is fine, and has not spoken with his brother for two years, due to "tensions on account of our inheritance." And he says, "it is very serious that Carlo Maria has written falsely to the Pope, instrumentalizing me for personal ends."}}</ref> However, Viganò's siblings disputed those statements.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aldomariavalli.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Il-comunicato-dei-fratelli-Vigano.pdf|title=Il comunicato dei fratelli Viganò|date=28 August 2018|access-date=30 August 2018}}</ref> The Vatican published Viganò's Washington appointment on 19 October 2011 and Viganò became the 14th papal representative to the United States since the creation of the post in 1893 and the fifth to serve as a diplomatic representative accredited to the government since bilateral diplomatic relations were established in 1984. Viganò said he welcomed the appointment and said that being Apostolic Nuncio to the United States is an "important, vast and delicate" task; he was grateful to Pope Benedict for entrusting him with the mission and he felt called to renew his "trust in the Lord, who asks me to set out again." Being apostolic nuncio, he said, is "a call to know this people, this country and come to love them."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1104106.htm |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20111022090057/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1104106.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 October 2011 |title=Pope names Archbishop Viganò new nuncio to the U.S. |date=19 October 2011 |work=Catholic News Service |last=Wooden |first=Cindy }}</ref>

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, commented that the revelation of Viganò's complaints about corruption and cronyism in Vatican finances "in a way...enhances his credibility as someone who does not look upon the internal workings of the Holy See with rose-colored glasses, but is well aware of difficulties there."<ref name="NCR_2012.02.17"/><ref>{{Cite news|last=Allen, Jr.|first=John L.|date=14 February 2012|title=Bishops are not 'Obama haters,' Dolan insists|newspaper=National Catholic Reporter|url=https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/bishops-are-not-obama-haters-dolan-insists|access-date=8 September 2018}}</ref>

In 2014, Viganò allegedly ordered officials of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to end an investigation into sexual misconduct on the part of Archbishop John Nienstedt, who was found innocent by police authorities.<ref name="MPR_2016" /><ref name="America_2018.08.26" /><ref name="KCStar_2018.08.26" />  Dan Griffith, who served as the archdiocese's Delegate for Safe Environment between August 2013 and July 2014,<ref name=ncrjuly2016 /> wrote an account of a meeting that took place in April 2014.<ref name=ncrjuly2016 /> Griffith's memo was leaked to the ''National Catholic Reporter'' in July 2016 and alleged that Viganò had ordered the archdiocese's two auxiliary bishops, Lee A. Piché and Andrew H. Cozzens, to cease the investigation and carry out the destruction of evidence.<ref name="ncrjuly2016">{{cite news|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/memo-vatican-nuncio-quashed-sexual-misconduct-inquiry-archbishop-nienstedt|title=Memo: Vatican nuncio quashed sexual misconduct inquiry of Archbishop Nienstedt|author=Brian Roewev|newspaper=National Catholic Reporter|date=21 July 2016|access-date=1 September 2018}}</ref> On 11 March 2014, local county officials announced they had concluded an intensive investigation and would not file charges against Nienstedt, who announced his return to public ministry the same day.<ref name="MPR_2016">{{cite news |last1=Yuen |first1=Laura |last2=Cox |first2=Peter |date=21 July 2016 |title=Did the Vatican halt an investigation into former Twin Cities Archbishop Nienstedt? |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/07/21/nienstedt-investigation-documents |newspaper = Minnesota Public Radio |access-date  = 23 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Archbishop Nienstedt: New allegations of sexual misconduct 'entirely false' |url=http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/25918774/archbishop-nienstedt-new-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct-entirely-false |access-date=3 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714115304/http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/25918774/archbishop-nienstedt-new-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct-entirely-false |archive-date=14 July 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1 = Goodstein |first1 = Laurie |last2 = Perez-Pena |first2 = Richard |date = 20 July 2016 |title = Minnesota Priest's Memo Says Vatican Ambassador Tried to Stifle Sex Abuse Inquiry |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/minnesota-priests-memo-says-vatican-envoy-tried-to-stifle-sex-abuse-inquiry.html |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |access-date =23 July 2016}}</ref> However, Nienstadt resigned in June 2015 after it was announced that a Minnesota prosecutor was bringing criminal charges and initiating a civil suit against the archdiocese for failing to protect children from sexual abuse.<ref>{{cite news | publisher= Crux | url= http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/06/15/archbishop-of-st-paul-minnesota-resigns-after-sex-abuse-coverup-charges-against-archdiocese/ | first= Inés | last= San Martín | title= Archbishop Nienstedt resigns after sex abuse coverup charges against archdiocese | access-date= 16 June 2015 | date= 15 June 2015 | archive-date= 17 June 2015 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150617002625/http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/06/15/archbishop-of-st-paul-minnesota-resigns-after-sex-abuse-coverup-charges-against-archdiocese/ | url-status= dead }}</ref> After the Nienstadt case received renewed attention following Viganò's 2018 letter, Viganò denied allegations that he had attempted to suppress the investigation and provided documentation in his defense.<ref name="Crux8312018">{{cite web |url=https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2018/08/31/questions-still-surround-papal-accusers-role-in-neinstedt-probe/ |title=Questions still surround papal accuser's role in Neinstedt probe |last=White |first=Christopher |date=August 31, 2019 |publisher=Crux |access-date=November 7, 2019 |archive-date=8 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191108010359/https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2018/08/31/questions-still-surround-papal-accusers-role-in-neinstedt-probe/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Griffith responded to Viganò's statement and defended his memo.<ref name="griffithspeaks">{{cite web |url=https://lourdesmpls.org/news/father-griffith-addresses-the-scandals-in-the-church |title=Father Griffith Responds to Archbishop Viganò's Statement |date=29 August 2018 |publisher=Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church |access-date=1 September 2018}}</ref> Cozzens also responded with a statement stating that at one point he and Griffith believed that Viganò had ordered an end to the investigation, but that Viganò later clarified that the investigation should be completed. Cozzens said that he believed Griffith acted in good faith.<ref name="cozzensspeaks">{{cite web |url=http://www.archspm.org/archspm_news/bishop-cozzens-statement-regarding-review-board-bishops/ |title=Bishop Cozzens' Statement Regarding Review Board for Bishops |date=31 August 2018 |publisher=Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis |access-date=1 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902052234/http://www.archspm.org/archspm_news/bishop-cozzens-statement-regarding-review-board-bishops/ |archive-date=2 September 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On 5 June 2019, Viganò was reported to have received, together with other influential U.S. Catholic leaders, substantial monetary gifts from West Virginia bishop Michael J. Bransfield, who had resigned following allegations of sexual misconduct. The gifts had been reimbursed by Bransfield's diocese. Viganò said that he had been told by his staff that such gifts were common in the United States, that he had decided to donate the money to charity, and that he did not know that the diocese had reimbursed Bransfield.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/a-wva-bishop-spent-millions-on-himself-and-sent-cash-gifts-to-cardinals-and-to-young-priests-he-was-accused-of-mistreating-confidential-vatican-report-says/2019/06/05/98af7ae6-7686-11e9-b3f5-5673edf2d127_story.html |title=W.Va. bishop gave powerful cardinals and other priests $350,000 in cash gifts before his ouster, church records show |last1=Boorstein |first1=Michelle |last2=Boburg |first2=Shawn |last3=O'Harrow Jr. |first3=Shawn |date=5 June 2019 |newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}} |access-date=6 June 2019}}</ref>

===Kim Davis meeting===
On 24 September 2015 during his visit to the United States, Pope Francis met Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. On 2 October, Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, said that the office of Viganò had extended the invitation to Davis. Chief Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi depicted the meeting as one among many brief introductions rather than an audience.<ref name="nytmystery">{{cite news |title=Archbishop at Center of Mystery of Papal Meeting With Kim Davis |date=2 October 2015 |access-date=27 August 2018 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/world/europe/archbishop-at-center-of-mystery-of-papal-meeting-with-kim-davis.html |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |first=Jason |last=Horowitz}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Was Pope Francis Actually Swindled Into Meeting Kim Davis?/The Papal Chase |url=http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a38440/pope-francis-swindled-kim-davis-meeting/ |work=Esquire |last=Piece |first=Charles |date=1 October 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |access-date=27 August 2018 |date=5 October 2015 |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-shady-group-that-played-pope-francis |title=The Shady Group That Played Pope Francis |first=Brandon |last=Ambrosino |work=The Daily Beast}}</ref>

Juan Carlo Cruz, a survivor of sexual abuse who met with Pope Francis, alleged that Viganò "nearly sabotaged the visit" by having Francis meet Davis. "I didn't know who that woman was, and he snuck her in to say hello to me — and of course they made a whole publicity out of it," Pope Francis said, according to Cruz. Cruz stated that Pope Francis said that he was "horrified" and that he then "fired that nuncio."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/world/europe/archbishop-carlo-maria-vigano-pope-francis.html |title=The Man Who Took On Pope Francis: The Story Behind the Viganò Letter |date=28 August 2018 |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}}}}</ref>  Viganò replied by releasing a letter to ''LifeSiteNews'', stating that "the pope knew very well who Davis was, and he and his close collaborators had provided the private audience."<ref name="NYT_2018.09.02">{{cite news |title=Defending Pope Francis, Vatican Allies May Strengthen Viganò's Hand |date=2 September 2018 |first=Jason |last=Horowitz |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}}  |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/world/europe/pope-francis-archbishop-vigano-kim-davis.html |access-date=3 September 2018}}</ref>  Subsequently, Vatican spokesman Lombardi and Thomas Rosica confirmed that the evening prior to Francis' meeting with Davis, Viganò had indeed spoken "with the pope and his collaborators and received a consensus" regarding the meeting.<ref name="NYT_2018.09.02" />  Shortly after the meeting, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington informed a reporter that both he and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, then-president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, had advised Archbishop Viganò against arranging the meeting.<ref name=Winters>{{Cite news | last = Winters | first = Michael Sean |  date = 2 September 2018 | title = Viganò's latest statement part of concerted campaign to attack papacy | newspaper = National Catholic Reporter | url = https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/vigan-s-latest-statement-part-concerted-campaign-attack-papacy | access-date = 8 September 2018 | quote = That conversation was on background but I have asked the cardinal's permission to put it on the record now given Viganò's latest statement, and he agreed to do so.}}</ref> Lombardi stated that Viganò had organized the meeting and "inserted it in the context of the pope's many and quick greetings at his departure from the nunciature," which "certainly did not allow the pope and his collaborators to realize the significance of this meeting."<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=O'Connell |first1=Gerard |title=Vatican spokesmen contradict Viganò's account of meeting with Pope Francis about Kim Davis |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/09/02/vatican-spokesmen-contradict-viganos-account-meeting-pope-francis-about-kim-davis |access-date=31 May 2019 | magazine = America |date=2 September 2018}}</ref>

===Retirement===
In January 2016, Archbishop Viganò submitted his resignation as required when he turned 75 years old.  On 12 April 2016, Pope Francis accepted Viganò's resignation and named Archbishop Christophe Pierre to succeed him as nuncio to the United States.<ref>{{cite news |title=Vatican Envoy Who Invited Kim Davis to Papal Meeting Retires |url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/04/12/world/europe/ap-eu-rel-vatican-us-.html|access-date=12 April 2016 |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |agency=Associated Press |date=12 April 2016}}</ref>

==August 2018 letter==
On 25 August 2018, Viganò released an 11-page letter describing a series of warnings to the [[Organization:Holy See|Vatican]] regarding Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.<ref name="CNA_2018.08.25">{{cite news |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/ex-nuncio-accuses-pope-francis-of-failing-to-act-on-mccarricks-abuse-reports-81797 |title=Ex-nuncio accuses Pope Francis of failing to act on McCarrick's abuse reports |last=Pentin |first=Edward |date=25 August 2018 |agency=Catholic News Agency |access-date=25 August 2018}}</ref> Two months earlier, on June 20, 2018, McCarrick had been removed from public ministry by the [[Organization:Holy See|Holy See]] after a review board of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York found an allegation "credible and substantiated" that he had sexually abused a 16-year-old altar boy while a priest in New York.<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael R. |last=Sisak |title=Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop, removed from ministry after sex abuse reports |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-cardinal-theodore-mccarrick-sex-abuse-20180620-story.html |access-date=July 29, 2018 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |agency=Associated Press |date=June 20, 2018 }}</ref>

According to Viganò's letter, in 2000, Gabriel Montalvo (then nuncio to the United States) had informed the Vatican of McCarrick's "gravely immoral behaviour with seminarians and priests."  Subsequently, Viganò alleges, Pietro Sambi (nuncio from 2005 to 2011) informed the Vatican again before Viganò himself wrote his own memo regarding McCarrick in 2006.  However, according to Viganò, nothing was done until Pope Benedict XVI to stop McCarrick.<ref name="CNA_2018.08.25" />

On July 27, 2018, Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to observe "a life of prayer and penance in seclusion" and accepted his resignation from the College of Cardinals,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2018/07/28/0548/01187.html|title=Comunicato della Sala Stampa della Santa Sede|publisher=Holy See Press Office|date=July 28, 2018|access-date=July 28, 2018}}</ref> pending the results of a canonical trial.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-07/pope-francis-cardinal-mccarrick-resignation.html |access-date = 24 August 2018 |date=28 July 2018 |work=Vatican News |title=Pope Francis accepts resignation of Cardinal McCarrick}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Michael R. |last=Sisak |title=Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop, removed from ministry after sex abuse reports |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-cardinal-theodore-mccarrick-sex-abuse-20180620-story.html |access-date=29 July 2018 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |agency=Associated Press |date=20 June 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Heyboer |first1=Kelly |last2=Sherman |first2=Ted |title=Here's how much N.J. Catholic dioceses paid to alleged McCarrick sex abuse victims, report says |work=NJ.com |date=17 July 2018 |url=https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/nj_catholic_dioceses_paid_at_least_180k_to_alleged.html |access-date=17 August 2018}}</ref>

===Accusations against Pope Francis===
Viganò says that in 2007 he wrote a second memo that included material from clerical sexual abuse expert Richard Sipe.<ref name="CNA_2018.08.25" /> Viganò says this led [[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Pope Benedict XVI]] in 2009 or 2010 to place severe restrictions on McCarrick's movements and public ministry, not allowing him to venture beyond the seminary grounds where he was living, and not permitting him to say Mass in public.<ref name="CNA_2018.08.25" /><ref name="NYT_2018.08.26">{{cite news |title=Pope Francis Long Knew of Cardinal's Abuse and Must Resign, Archbishop Says |last=Horowitz |first=Jason |date=26 August 2018 |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/world/europe/pope-ireland-sexual-abuse-letter-vigano.html |access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref> Viganò states that he spoke to Pope Francis about McCarrick's behavior in June 2013 and informed him of the restrictions that Benedict XVI had imposed on him. Nevertheless, Francis allegedly removed these sanctions and made McCarrick "his trusted counselor," even though Francis "knew from at least June 23, 2013 that McCarrick was a serial predator. He knew that he was a corrupt man, he covered for him to the bitter end."<ref name="CNA_2018.08.25" /><ref name="NYT_2018.08.26" />

In the letter containing these allegations, Viganò called on Francis and all others who covered up McCarrick's conduct to resign.<ref name="CNA_2018.08.25" /><ref name="NYT_2018.08.26" /> Viganò stated: "In this extremely dramatic moment for the universal church, he [Pope Francis] must acknowledge his mistakes and, in keeping with the proclaimed principle of zero tolerance, Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example to cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick's abuses and resign along with all of them... We must tear down the conspiracy of silence with which bishops and priests have protected themselves at the expense of their faithful, a conspiracy of silence that in the eyes of the world risks making the church look like a sect, a conspiracy of silence not so dissimilar from the one that prevails in the mafia."<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/26/pope-francis-failed-to-act-on-abuse-claims-says-former-vatican-envoy | title = Pope Francis failed to act on US abuse claims, says former Vatican envoy | first = Harriet | last = Sherwood | date = 26 August 2018 | work={{wipe|The Guardian}} | via = www.theguardian.com | access-date = 18 June 2019}}</ref>

Francis convened a Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church from 21 to 24 February 2019,<ref name="ncr-announce2">{{cite news|last1=McElwee|first1=Joshua J.|date=12 September 2018|title=Francis summons world's bishop presidents to Rome for meeting on clergy abuse|work=National Catholic Reporter|location=Vatican City|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/francis-summons-worlds-bishop-presidents-rome-meeting-clergy-abuse|access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref> which led to his issuing the ''motu proprio'' ''Vos estis lux mundi'', which specified the responsibility of bishops in handling cases and in reporting.<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 8, 2020|title=What Is Vos Estis Lux Mundi?|url=https://thetablet.org/what-is-vos-estis-lux-mundi-investigation/|website=The Tablet}}</ref>

===Accusations against others===
In his letter, Viganò accuses three consecutive Vatican secretaries of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, of knowing about McCarrick's behavior but doing nothing about it.<ref name="CNA_2018.08.26A" />

In his letter, Viganò names several high-ranking prelates who he says were aware of Pope Benedict's restrictions on McCarrick, including Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Cardinal [[Biography:William Levada|William Levada]], Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, and Bishop Robert McElroy. Viganò's letter says that these cardinals and prelates knew about McCarrick's [[Social:Sexual harassment|sexual harassment]] of young adult seminarians; it does not say that anyone knew of McCarrick's sexual abuse of minors.<ref name="America_2018.08.26">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/08/26/viganos-accusations-what-we-know-and-what-questions-they-raise |title=Viganò's accusations: What we know and what questions they raise |last=O'Loughlin |first=Michael J. |date=26 August 2018 | magazine = America |access-date=26 August 2018}}</ref> Viganò stated that he had discussed McCarrick's conduct and the penalties surrounding it with Wuerl and accused him of putting seminarians at risk by allowing McCarrick to reside at the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Seminary after his retirement despite knowing that he was accused of abusing seminarians.<ref name="CNA8252018">{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/wuerl-denies-he-was-informed-of-vatican-restrictions-on-mccarrick-83657 |title=Wuerl denies he was informed of Vatican restrictions on McCarrick |last=Flynn |first=J.&nbsp;D. |date=August 25, 2018 |publisher=Catholic News Agency |access-date=August 9, 2023}}</ref>

Viganò also said that McCarrick "orchestrated" the appointments of Blase Cupich as Archbishop of Chicago and Joseph Tobin as Archbishop of Newark and Robert McElroy as Bishop of San Diego.<ref name="CNA_2018.08.25" /><ref name="NYT_2018.08.26" />

===Assessments of letter by news media===
''{{wipe|The New York Times}}'' stated that Viganò's letter contained "unsubstantiated allegations and personal attacks," and described it as "an extraordinary public declaration of war against Francis' papacy at perhaps its most vulnerable moment." It said that during the time period that Viganò alleged McCarrick was subject to restrictions on his ministry, McCarrick continued to publicly celebrate Mass, and even joined with other bishops to present Pope Benedict a birthday cake in 2012.<ref name="NYT_2018.08.26" /> One notable mass which McCarrick participated in occurred at the 2010 papal consistory where Donald Wuerl, his successor as Archbishop of Washington D.C., was made a cardinal.<ref name="NYT_2018.09.01" /> McCarrick also made a public appearance at the Library of Congress in 2011 and joined other American bishops during their five-year "check-in" with Pope Benedict in January 2012.<ref name="NYT_2018.09.01" /> He made several trips to the Vatican during this period as well,<ref name="NYT_2018.09.01" /> and participated in a mass with other U.S. bishops at Saint Peter's tomb during the January 2012 visit.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://insidethevatican.com/magazine/culture/people-march-2012/ | title=People | date=March 2012 | publisher=Inside the Vatican | access-date=17 March 2019 }}</ref> However, McCarrick had declined numerous requests in the summer of 2010 to be interviewed by ''The Washington Post,'' which described his 80th birthday celebrations in July of that year as "uncharacteristically quiet."<ref>{{cite magazine | url = https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/08/29/mccarrick-kept-robust-public-presence-during-years-he-was-allegedly-sanctioned |title= McCarrick kept a robust public presence during years he was allegedly sanctioned | last=O'Loughlin |first=Michael J. |date=29 August 2018 | magazine = America |access-date=29 August 2019}}</ref>

Viganò's defenders suggested that Benedict did not impose formal sanctions but instead made an informal request for McCarrick to assume a low profile and that he was then unwilling to enforce these restrictions. As evidence, they pointed to Benedict's other supposedly half-hearted attempts to discipline prelates accused of misconduct, the purportedly defiant behavior of McCarrick as an indicator that he could have ignored attempted restrictions, and contemporary media reports noting that McCarrick enjoyed a more visible role after Francis's election than he had while Benedict XVI was still pope.<ref name="Francis and McCarrick">{{cite news |url=https://www.complicitclergy.com/2018/09/01/pope-francis-and-mccarrick-where-does-the-evidence-lead/ |title=Pope Francis and McCarrick: where does the evidence lead? |last=Hitchens |first=Dan |date=31 August 2018 |newspaper=Catholic Herald |access-date=1 September 2018}}</ref> A 2014 news article referred to McCarrick as "one of a number of senior churchmen who were more or less put out to pasture during the eight-year pontificate of Benedict XVI," adding that after the election of Pope Francis he was put "back in the mix." He engaged in a number of high-profile diplomatic missions early in Pope Francis' pontificate, often at the behest of the Vatican.<ref name="RNS84">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/globe-trotting-cardinal-theodore-mccarrick-is-almost-84-and-working-harder-than-ever/2014/06/16/bf40f9b8-f581-11e3-930d-ca5db8eb8323_story.html|title=Globe-trotting Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is almost 84, and working harder than ever |last=Gibson |first=David |date=June 16, 2014 |agency=Religion News Service|newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}}|publisher=Nash Holdings|location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=August 3, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Winfield |first=Nicole  |title=Pope on McCarrick claims: 'I won't say a word about it'   |publisher=Religion News Service|date=August 27, 2018 |url=https://religionnews.com/2018/08/27/pope-on-mccarrick-claims-i-wont-say-a-word-about-it/  }}</ref> Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Pope Benedict's personal secretary and "trusted lieutenant," described reports that Pope Benedict confirmed Viganò's letter as "fake news."<ref name="NYT_2018.09.01" /> On 7 October, after being asked to come forward by Viganò, Cardinal Marc Ouellet stated that he was aware of informal restrictions that Benedict XVI had asked McCarrick to abide by, but that there were no formal sanctions.<ref name="NCR_2018.10.07"/>

Journalists at the time of the appointments of both Cupich and Tobin reported that McCarrick had recommended both for their positions as archbishop of Chicago and Newark, respectively, as consistent with the statement made in Viganò's testimony.<ref name="Francis and McCarrick"/> Journalists Tornielli and Valente reported that, contrary to what Viganò suggests in his testimony, Cupich was indeed on the list of candidates sent to Rome (he was third) and had the support of other U.S. bishops.<ref name="Faggioli">{{Cite magazine | url = https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/day-judgment | last = Faggioli | first = Massimo | title = The Day of Judgment | magazine = Commonweal | date = 29 November 2018 | access-date = 18 June 2019| via = commonwealmagazine.org}}</ref> In 2014, McCarrick attempted to have a friend, Robert Furman, appointed Bishop of Fairbanks, Alaska, but the appointment went to a different person.<ref name="Crux5282019"/> ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'' stated "Linking Pope Francis with the protection of a sexual abuser is false. But the rage behind it will not go away."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/03/the-guardian-view-on-the-catholic-crisis-in-the-us-out-in-the-open |title=The Guardian view on the Catholic crisis in the US: out in the open |author=Editorial |work=The Guardian |date=3 September 2018 |access-date=4 September 2018}}</ref>

Viganò reported that the sanctions were instituted in 2009 and 2010, and that at that time, McCarrick was ordered to leave the grounds of Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Seminary in which he was living. Two sources present at a 2008 meeting between Sambi and McCarrick told Catholic News Agency that Sambi ordered him to move out of the seminary and testified that Sambi specifically stated that it was at the instruction of Pope Benedict XVI. McCarrick left the seminary in around early 2009, and subsequently moved into the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle in Woodley Park, Washington D.C.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/where-did-retired-mccarrick-live-after-alleged-vatican-sanctions-52037 |title=Where did retired McCarrick live after alleged Vatican sanctions? |last=Condon |first=Ed |date=27 August 2018 |publisher=Catholic News Agency |access-date=12 January 2019}}</ref>

The Catholic magazine ''America'' proposed several reasons why some people find Viganò's letter credible, including Viganò's inside role in these matters as well as Pope Francis' alleged "lack of progress" and "lack of urgency" regarding sexual abuse; it also proposed several reasons why other people are skeptical about the letter, including public appearances made by McCarrick during the papacy of Pope Benedict and Viganò's "perceived hostility toward Pope Francis" for having removed him from his post in 2016, allegedly because Viganò was seen as having "become too enmeshed in U.S. culture wars, particularly regarding same-sex marriage."<ref name="America_2018.08.26" /> Viganò's handling of the investigation into Archbishop John Nienstedt for misconduct with adult seminarians was also subject to renewed scrutiny.<ref name="America_2018.08.26" /><ref name="KCStar_2018.08.26">{{cite news |title=Pope on McCarrick claims: "I won't say a word about it." |last=Winfield |first=Nicole |agency=Associated Press |date=26 August 2018 |newspaper=The Kansas City Star |url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article217359055.html |access-date=27 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827115522/https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article217359055.html |archive-date=27 August 2018 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

On 1 September 2018, ''The New York Times'' reported that Viganò had personally presented McCarrick with an award for missionary service in 2012 at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan and praised him as "very much loved from us all."<ref name="NYT_2018.09.01" /> The article said that "if Archbishop Viganò is to be believed, he was keeping a troubling secret." Conservative media countered by suggesting that he was unable to back out of the ceremony and exerted no control over it.<ref name="NYT_2018.09.01">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/world/europe/pope-francis-benedict-mccarrick.html |title=Why Was He Allowed at Gala Events? |last1=Goodstein |first1=Laurie |first2=John |last2=Horowitz |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |date=1 September 2018 |access-date=1 September 2018}}</ref> Viganò himself said that he "couldn't make the slightest impression that I had something against the cardinal in public."<ref name="Meeting, Speech">{{cite news |url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/archbishop-vigano-responds-to-videos-of-papal-meeting-speech |title=Archbishop Viganò Responds to Videos of Papal Meeting, Speech |last=Pentin |first=Edward |date=1 September 2018 |newspaper=National Catholic Register |access-date=2 September 2018}}</ref>

The ''Los Angeles Times'' quoted Villanova University professor of theology, Massimo Faggioli, "This letter has everything to do with factions in the church that are vying for power and influence,...You have a convergence of interests that is making this a huge mess in the U.S. Catholic Church."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-fg-pope-francis-papal-nuncio-20180828-story.html|title=Who is Carlo Maria Viganò, the man accusing Pope Francis of covering up sex abuse?|date=28 August 2018|newspaper={{wipe|Los Angeles Times}}}}</ref>

===Responses to letter===
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, released a statement declaring that Viganò's letter raised questions which "deserve answers that are conclusive and based on evidence. Without those answers, innocent men may be tainted by false accusation and the guilty may be left to repeat sins of the past."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usccb.org/news/2018/18-143.cfm|title=President of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Renews Commitment for Greater Effectiveness and Transparency in Disciplining Bishops|date=27 August 2018|work=United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website|access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref>

The McCarrick case and Viganò allegations, happening at about the same time as the conclusion of the Grand jury investigation of Catholic Church sexual abuse in Pennsylvania, which alleged systematic cover-up of clergy sex abuse by bishops in Pennsylvania over decades, have intensified tensions in the Catholic Church between ideological liberals and conservatives. In addition to a general call from Catholics across ideological boundaries for greater accountability and transparency within the church, the allegations of sexual abuse have opened up ideological divisions within the church.  Many conservative Catholics have focused on the alleged role of homosexuality in clergy sex abuse and have expressed concerns that Pope Francis is not sufficiently strict in enforcing doctrinal orthodoxy, while many Catholic liberals have blamed the sex abuse scandals on what they perceive to be the excessively hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church and have called for the church to be more welcoming and inclusive of homosexuals. Conservatives have often shown a willingness to accept at least some of Viganò's allegations, while liberals have more commonly criticized the letter and defended Pope Francis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/29/us/cardinal-wuerl-catholic-insurgency/index.html |title=Growing Catholic insurgency threatens top cardinal in Washington |last1=Burke |first1=Daniel |last2=Flores |first2=Rosa |date=30 August 2018 |publisher=CNN |access-date=30 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/opinion/pope-francis-catholic-church-resign.html |title=What Did Pope Francis Know? |last=Douthat |first=Ross |date=28 August 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=30 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="NYT_Schmitz">{{cite news |title=A Catholic Civil War? |last=Schmitz |first=Matthew |date=27 August 2018 |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/opinion/pope-francis-catholic-church-letter.html |access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/with-call-for-pope-to-resign-divisions-within-the-catholic-church-explode-into-view/2018/08/27/5f6b2476-a9f7-11e8-9a7d-cd30504ff902_story.html |title=With call for pope to resign, divisions within the Catholic Church explode into view |last=Harlan |first=Chico |date=27 August 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carroll |first1=James |title=Abolish the Priesthood |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/to-save-the-church-dismantle-the-priesthood/588073/ |journal=The Atlantic |date=17 May 2019 |access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref>

==== Reaction of Pope Francis ====
Asked by a reporter to respond to Viganò's allegations, Pope Francis replied, {{Blockquote |I read the statement this morning, and I must tell you sincerely that, I must say this, to you [the reporter] and all those who are interested.  Read the statement carefully and make your own judgment. I will not say a single word about this.  I believe the statement speaks for itself.  And you have the journalistic capacity to draw your own conclusions. It's an act of faith. When some time passes and you have drawn your conclusions, I may speak. But, I would like your professional maturity to do the work for you. It will be good for you.<ref name="NYT_2018.08.26" /><ref name="CNA_Francis_Quote">{{cite news |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-of-pope-francis-in-flight-press-conference-from-dublin-48562 |title=Full text of Pope Francis' in-flight press conference from Dublin |date=26 August 2018 |agency=Catholic News Agency |access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/vatican-official-says-pope-francis-should-resign-abuse-1.4799495 |work=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |location=Toronto |title='I will not say one word on this': Pope on his alleged knowledge of abuse by cardinal |date=26 August 2018 |access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="Crux_2018.08.27">{{cite news |title=On charges of McCarrick cover-up, Francis tells reporters to do their jobs |author=Inés San Martín |date=27 August 2018 |newspaper=Crux |url=https://cruxnow.com/wmf-ireland/2018/08/27/on-charges-of-mccarrick-cover-up-francis-tells-reporters-to-do-their-jobs/ |access-date=27 August 2018 |archive-date=1 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401171846/https://cruxnow.com/wmf-ireland/2018/08/27/on-charges-of-mccarrick-cover-up-francis-tells-reporters-to-do-their-jobs/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/26/europe/pope-ireland-no-more-apologies-intl/index.html |work=CNN |location=Atlanta |title='No more apologies': Pope's visit fails to soothe Irish fury over abuse | date=20 June 2018 |access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UV46ABP0gk  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/9UV46ABP0gk |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Pope: 'I Won't Say A Word About' McCarrick Claim | work=YouTube--Associated Press | location=In Flight Dublin to Rome | date=27 August 2018 |access-date=11 June 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>}}

According to veteran Vatican journalist John L. Allen Jr., the "clear suggestion" from Francis was that "if they did so, the charges would crumble under their own weight,"<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2018/08/27/making-sense-of-mccarrick-cover-up-charges-against-pope-francis/ |title=Making sense of McCarrick cover-up charges against Pope Francis |first=John L. |last=Allen Jr. |date=27 August 2018 |access-date=27 August 2018 |newspaper=Crux |archive-date=25 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125083632/https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2018/08/27/making-sense-of-mccarrick-cover-up-charges-against-pope-francis/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> while others saw the Vatican's silence and Viganò's strong insistence that documents related to the case be made public as indication that the latter was likely telling the truth.<ref name="Francis and McCarrick"/> On 28 August, Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, said, in reference to Francis's statement, "Frankly, but with all due respect, that response is not adequate." He called on all Vatican officials, including Francis, to "make public the pertinent files indicating who knew what and when...and provide the accountability that the Holy Father has promised."<ref name="Paprocki">{{cite web |url=https://www.dio.org/communications/press-releases/428-statement-from-bishop-paprocki-regarding-the-testimony-of-the-former-apostolic-nuncio.html |title=Statement from Bishop Thomas John Paprocki Regarding the Testimony of the Former Apostolic Nuncio |date=28 August 2018 |publisher=Diocese of Springfield in Illinois |access-date=28 August 2018 |archive-date=15 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215232753/https://www.dio.org/communications/press-releases/428-statement-from-bishop-paprocki-regarding-the-testimony-of-the-former-apostolic-nuncio.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Bishop Marian Eleganti said that Francis's refusal "to say a single word about [the accusations against him] is a classic [[Social:Non-denial denial|non-denial]]."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/08/31/bishop-eleganti-the-popes-silence-is-a-classic-non-denial/ |title=Bishop Eleganti: "The Pope's silence is a classic non-denial!" |date=31 August 2018 |publisher=The Catholic World Report |access-date=1 September 2018}}</ref>

On 3 September, the Pope said "With people who do not have good will, with people who seek only scandal, who seek only division, who seek only destruction, even within families," the answer is "silence. And prayer." Many found this to be a clear reference to his decision to remain silent about the scandal.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/09/03/pope-francis-says-response-to-division-should-be-silence-prayer |title=Pope Francis says response to division should be silence, prayer |last=Brockhaus |first=Hannah |date=3 September 2018 |newspaper=Crux |access-date=3 September 2018 |archive-date=4 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904052424/https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/09/03/pope-francis-says-response-to-division-should-be-silence-prayer/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/09/03/pope-answer-those-who-only-seek-scandal-silence-prayer/1184690002/ |title=Pope: Answer those who 'only seek scandal' with silence, prayer |last=Bacon |first=John |date=3 September 2018 |newspaper=[[Software:USA Today|USA Today]] |access-date=3 September 2018}}</ref> On 11 September, referring to [[Biography:Satan|Satan]], Pope Francis said: 
{{Blockquote |In these times, it seems like the Great Accuser has been unchained and is attacking bishops...True, we are all sinners, we bishops. He tries to uncover the sins, so they are visible in order to scandalize the people...The Great Accuser, as he himself says to God in the first chapter of the Book of Job, 'roams the earth looking for someone to accuse'.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/09/11/pope-francis-the-great-accuser-is-trying-to-uncover-sins-to-cause-scandal/ |title=Pope Francis: the Great Accuser is trying to uncover sins to cause scandal |date=September 11, 2018 |newspaper=Catholic Herald |access-date=September 11, 2018}}</ref>}}

In an interview published on 28 May 2019, Francis directly addressed the accusations made in Viganò's letter for the first time. He stated that he "knew nothing" about McCarrick's conduct. Asked about Viganò's statement that he told Francis about McCarrick's behavior, he said: "I don't remember if he told me about this. If it's true or not. No idea! But you know that about McCarrick, I knew nothing. If not, I wouldn't have remained quiet, right?"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/05/28/in-new-interview-pope-francis-says-he-knew-nothing-about-mccarrick/ |title=In new interview, Pope Francis says he 'knew nothing' about McCarrick |last=San Martín |first=Inés |date=28 May 2019 |publisher=Crux Now |access-date=28 May 2019 |archive-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529171937/https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/05/28/in-new-interview-pope-francis-says-he-knew-nothing-about-mccarrick/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==== Supportive responses ====
Jean-François Lantheaume, who had served as first counsellor at the nunciature in Washington, D.C., stated that "Viganò said the truth," but declined to elaborate further. In his letter, Viganò had cited Lantheaume as the one who told him about the alleged "stormy" encounter between McCarrick and Sambi in which Sambi informed McCarrick of the sanctions being placed on him.<ref name="CNA_2018.08.26A">{{cite news |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/former-nunciature-official-vigano-said-the-truth-38319 |title=Former nunciature official: 'Viganò said the truth' |last=Condon |first=Ed |date=26 August 2018 |agency=Catholic News Agency |access-date=26 August 2018}}</ref>

Thomas Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix, stated that he had "always known and respected [Viganò] as a man of truthfulness, faith and integrity," and asked that the statements in his letter "be investigated thoroughly."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dphx.org/statement-from-bishop-thomas-olmsted-regarding-archbishop-viganos-recent-testimony/|title=Statement from Bishop Thomas Olmsted Regarding Archbishop Viganò's Recent Testimony|date=27 August 2018|work=Diocese of Phoenix website|access-date=27 August 2018|archive-date=28 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828211842/https://dphx.org/statement-from-bishop-thomas-olmsted-regarding-archbishop-viganos-recent-testimony/|url-status=dead}}</ref>  Similarly, David Konderla, Bishop of Tulsa, stated that Viganò's allegations would be "a good place to begin the investigations that must happen."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/BishopDavidKonderla/posts/1917918674937764|title=Untitled ''Facebook'' post|date=26 August 2018|work=[[Company:Facebook|Facebook]]|access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref> Joseph Strickland, Bishop of Tyler, went further, stating that he found Viganò's allegations "credible."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dioceseoftyler.org/news/2018/08/bishop-stricklands-public-statement-to-the-diocese/|title=Bishop Strickland's Public Statement to the Diocese|date=26 August 2018|work=Diocese of Tyler website|access-date=27 August 2018|archive-date=27 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827060930/http://www.dioceseoftyler.org/news/2018/08/bishop-stricklands-public-statement-to-the-diocese/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, said that Viganò was a man of "selfless dedication" with "integrity and sincere love of the Church." Cordileone also said that his calls for Pope Francis's resignation "must be taken seriously."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/world/article/Cordileone-says-archbishop-s-call-for-Pope-13192151.php |title=Cordileone says archbishop's call for Pope Francis' resignation 'must be taken seriously' |last=Rubenstein |first=Steve |date=29 August 2018 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle | via = www.sfgate.com |access-date=2 September 2018}}</ref>

Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison, said that Viganò has "impeccable integrity" and he had "offered a number of concrete, real allegations in his recent document, giving names, dates, places, and the location of supporting documentation," and that these allegations justified a canonical investigation.<ref name="MorlinoStatement">{{cite web|url=https://madisondiocese.org/documents/2018/8/Statement%20-%20Bishop%20Morlino%20-%2008-27-2018.pdf|title=Statement from Bishop Robert C. Morlino|date=27 August 2018|work=Diocese of Madison website|access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref> Morlino also expressed disappointment that Pope Francis had not given a direct response when asked about this matter, and accused the ''National Catholic Reporter'' of "leading the charge in a campaign of vilification against Archbishop Viganò."<ref name="MorlinoStatement" />

Paprocki called on all Vatican officials, including Francis, to "make public the pertinent files indicating who knew what and when...and provide the accountability that the Holy Father has promised."<ref name="Paprocki" /> Archbishop Paul Stagg Coakley professed to having "the deepest respect for Archbishop Viganò and his personal integrity" and called for an investigation and a "purification" of the church.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archokc.org/news/archbishop-coakley-response-to-vigano-testimony|title=Archbishop Coakley's Response to Viganó Testimony|date=28 August 2018|publisher=Archdiocese of Oklahoma City|access-date=29 August 2018}}</ref> Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan stated that there was "no reasonable and plausible cause to doubt the truth content of the document." He demanded "ruthlessness and transparency" in cleansing the church of evils, particularly "homosexual cliques and networks" in the curia.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/guest-blogger/reflection-on-the-testimony-of-archbishop-carlo-maria-vigano|title=Reflection on the 'Testimony' of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò|last=Schneider|first=Athanasius|date=27 August 2018|newspaper=National Catholic Register|access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref>

==== Critical responses ====
Some American bishops were critical of Viganò's missive.  Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, released a statement criticizing Viganò's statement for "factual errors, innuendo and fearful ideology."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rcan.org/statement-response-testimony-archbishop-carlo-maria-vigan%C3%B2-former-apostolic-nuncio-united-states |title=Statement in Response to "Testimony" of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States |date=27 August 2018 |work=Archdiocese of Newark website |access-date=27 August 2018 |archive-date=28 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828035815/https://www.rcan.org/statement-response-testimony-archbishop-carlo-maria-vigan%C3%B2-former-apostolic-nuncio-united-states |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, said the language of the letter seemed political:  "It was so scattershot that it was hard to read if it was ideological in some ways, or it was payback to others for personal slights that he had because there were some people who in his past he felt had mistreated him."<ref name="ChicagoTrib">{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-letter-vatican-mccarrick-cupich-career-20180827-story.html |title=Cardinal Cupich defends his record, Pope Francis in response to former Vatican official |last=O'Connell |first=Patrick M. |date=27 August 2018 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref>  Cupich said he was "taken aback" by the negative language Viganò used with regard to him.<ref name="ChicagoTrib" /> Cupich described the letter as a distraction from the church's "bigger agenda": "We have to speak about the environment, about the poor, we have to reach out to people who are marginalized in society.  We cannot be distracted at this moment."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://wgntv.com/2018/08/27/cardinal-blase-cupich-responds/ |title=Cardinal Cupich responds to scathing letter by former top church official, defends record |date=27 August 2018 |work=WGN-TV website |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref>  When asked about those criticizing Francis, he responded, "Quite frankly, they also don't like him because he's a Latino." Pope Francis was born in Argentina, to parents of Italian descent.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cupich-dismisses-vigano-claims-as-a-rabbit-hole-76667 |title=Cupich dismisses Viganò claims as a 'rabbit hole' |date=28 August 2018 |publisher=Catholic News Agency |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref>

Robert McElroy, Bishop of San Diego, said that the letter, instead of seeking "comprehensive truth," showed "partisanship, division and distortion" in "its ideologically-driven selection of bishops who are attacked, in its clear efforts to settle old personal scores, in its omission of any reference to Archbishop Viganò's own massive personal participation in the covering up of sexual abuse by bishops, and most profoundly in its hatred for Pope Francis and all that he has taught."<ref name="CNA_2018.08.27">{{cite news |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vigano-testimony-receives-mixed-response-from-us-bishops-89214 |title=Viganò testimony receives mixed response from US bishops |last=Rezac |first=Mary |date=27 August 2018 |agency=Catholic News Agency |access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref> Contrary to Viganò's statements, a spokesman for Wuerl stated that he had never received any information from Viganò concerning restrictions on McCarrick.<ref name="CNA_2018.08.25B">{{cite news|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/wuerl-denies-he-was-informed-of-vatican-restrictions-on-mccarrick-83657|title=Wuerl denies he was informed of Vatican restrictions on McCarrick|last=Flynn|first=J.D.|date=25 August 2018|access-date=26 August 2018|agency=Catholic News Agency}}</ref> On 30 August, Wuerl wrote a letter to priests in the archdiocese saying, "We need to hold close in our prayers and loyalty our Holy Father, Pope Francis. Increasingly, it is clear that he is the object of concentrated attack."<ref>{{cite news | url = https://cathstan.org/news/local/cardinal-wuerls-aug-30-letter-to-priests | title = Cardinal Wuerl's Aug. 30 letter to priests | date = 30 August 2018 | newspaper = Catholic Standard | publisher = Archdiocese of Washington | access-date = 23 June 2019}}</ref>

In an interview published on 27 November 2018, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect Emeritus for the [[Religion:Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith|Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]], criticized Viganò's language against Pope Francis, saying, "No one has the right to indict the pope or ask him to resign!" He said that these conversations "must take place in private, in the proper places, and without ever making a public controversy." Müller went on to say that such "attacks...end up questioning the credibility of the Church and her mission." He added that he is convinced that the Pope "is doing everything possible" to resolve the abuse scandal. Müller suggested that Pope Francis appoint a commission of cardinals to study the abuse scandal and called for unity amongst the church's different theological wings.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/11/28/muller-calls-out-vigano-us-bishops-in-new-interview/ |title=Müller calls out Viganò, US bishops in new interview |date=28 November 2018 |publisher=Crux Now |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-date=16 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216031426/https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/11/28/muller-calls-out-vigano-us-bishops-in-new-interview/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Involvement of Marco Tosatti ===
After the letter was published, Italian journalist Marco Tosatti said that he had helped Viganò write and edit the letter.  Tosatti stated that Viganò "had called him a few weeks ago out of the blue asking to meet, and then proceeded to tell him the information that became the basis of the testimony."  When they met, Viganò brought a draft of the document, and then Tosatti helped Viganò rewrite and edit it. Tosatti said the reason Viganò wrote the letter now was that "77 is an age where you start preparing yourself [...] he couldn't have a clear conscience unless he spoke." After the document was completed, Tosatti located publications that were willing to publish the letter:  the Italian daily ''La Verità'', the English-language ''National Catholic Register'' and ''LifeSiteNews'', and the Spanish website InfoVaticana.<ref name="AP_2018.08.28">{{cite news|url=https://www.apnews.com/351a31e0144845afb58ff2ed345ceda9|title=Journalist who helped pen pope bombshell says author wept|last=Winfield|first=Nicole|date=28 August 2018|access-date=28 August 2018|work=Associated Press}}</ref>

=== Follow-up letters and response from Cardinal Ouellet ===
On 27 September 2018, Viganò released a follow-up letter (dated 29 September). In this letter, Viganò explained why he had broken the "pontifical secret" by publishing his first letter. He criticized Francis for not having responded directly to the original letter, but instead having compared his critics to [[Biography:Satan|Satan]]. Viganò stated that it was Cardinal Marc Ouellet who had informed him of the sanctions that Benedict XVI had allegedly placed on McCarrick, and urged Ouellet to publicly confirm this statement.<ref name="Crux_2018.09.28">{{cite news|url=https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/09/28/archbishop-vigano-issues-new-letter-on-pope-francis-and-mccarrick/|title=Archbishop Viganò issues new letter on Pope Francis and McCarrick|author=Catholic News Agency|date=28 September 2018|newspaper=Crux|access-date=28 September 2018|archive-date=28 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928105355/https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/09/28/archbishop-vigano-issues-new-letter-on-pope-francis-and-mccarrick/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He wrote, "Neither the pope, nor any of the cardinals in Rome have denied the facts I asserted in my testimony."<ref name="Crux_2018.09.28" />

On 7 October, Cardinal Ouellet replied to Viganò in a public letter.<ref name="NCR_2018.10.07">{{cite news |url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/cardinal-ouellet-writes-open-letter-to-archbishop-vigano |title=Cardinal Ouellet Writes Open Letter to Archbishop Viganò |last=Pentin |first=Edward |date=7 October 2018 |newspaper=National Catholic Register |access-date=8 October 2018}}</ref><ref name="NYT_2018.10.07">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/07/world/europe/cardinal-letter-vatican-pope-vigano.html |title=Cardinal Pens Scathing Letter to Archbishop Who Accused Pope of Cover-Up |last=Horowitz |first=Jason |date=7 October 2018 |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |access-date=8 October 2018}}</ref> He confirmed that during the papacy of Benedict XVI, McCarrick "had been requested not to travel or to make public appearances", but he insisted that these restrictions placed on McCarrick should not be seen as "sanctions" or "formally imposed", referring to them rather as "conditions and restrictions that he had to follow on account of some rumors about his past conduct." He defended the decision not to impose formal sanctions on him, stating that this was a matter of "prudence" as there was not yet sufficient evidence to implicate him. Ouellet also confirmed that in 2011, he had "verbally" told Viganò about the restrictions on McCarrick. However, he argued that as these were not formal sanctions, Viganò's letter was "false" for saying that Benedict imposed sanctions on McCarrick which Francis subsequently lifted.<ref name="NCR_2018.10.07" />  In other passages, Ouellet called Viganò's accusations "far-fetched," "blasphemous," "incomprehensible," and "abhorrent."<ref name="NYT_2018.10.07" />

Many journalists and analysts have said that, despite denouncing the Archbishop, Ouellet confirmed in substance one of Viganò's key statements: restrictions, even if non-canonical penalties, were imposed on McCarrick because the Vatican authorities were not only aware of the accusations but believed them to be true, even if they lacked probative evidence.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/vatican-denounces-accusation-against-pope-but-confirms-key-point-1538912551|title=Vatican Denounces Accusation Against Pope but Confirms Key Point|last=Rocca|first=Francis X.|date=7 October 2018|work={{wipe|The Wall Street Journal}}|via=wsj.com|url-access=registration|access-date=12 October 2018|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/seven-notable-points-from-cardinal-ouellets-vigano-letter|title=Seven Notable Points From Cardinal Ouellet's 'Viganò Letter'|newspaper=National Catholic Register|access-date=12 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vigan--ouellet-what-have-we-learned-about-the-mccarrick-case-77545|title=Viganò & Ouellet: What have we learned about the McCarrick case?|work=Catholic News Agency|access-date=12 October 2018|language=en}}</ref>

On 19 October, Viganò released a third letter in which he alleged that, despite Ouellet's denials, for years "the Holy See was aware of a variety of concrete facts" concerning McCarrick's activities, and that documents proving this allegation are kept in the Vatican Archives. Concerning Ouellet's response to the Archbishop's second letter, which included heavy criticism, Viganò said, "Cardinal Ouellet concedes the important claims."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/10/19/vigano-tells-ouellet-yes-the-vatican-had-detailed-proof-of-mccarricks-wrongdoing/ |title=Viganò tells Ouellet: Yes, the Vatican had detailed proof of McCarrick's wrongdoing |last=Hitchens |first=Dan |date=19 October 2018 |newspaper=Catholic Herald |access-date=19 October 2018}}</ref><ref name="CNA 101918">{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vigano-responds-to-cardinal-ouellets-charge-of-rebellion-against-pope-36161 |title=Viganò letter responds to Cardinal Ouellet's charge of rebellion against pope |last=Brockhaus |first=Hannah |date=19 October 2018 |publisher=Catholic News Agency |access-date=19 October 2018}}</ref> He denounced the "conspiracy of silence" in the church hierarchy which he believes oppresses victims and protects abusers. Viganò ended the letter by urging other bishops to come forward with what they knew: "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 or choose to speak."<ref name="CNA 101918"/> Eight days later, Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan stated that he received a complaint about McCarrick in 1994 while serving as papal nuncio, and then forwarded it to Cardinal John O'Connor of New York, who supposedly conducted an investigation that yielded nothing. Cacciavillan said that he did not attempt to directly contact the Vatican.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/10/29/former-nuncio-to-us-admits-hearing-rumors-of-mccarrick-misconduct-in-1994/?platform=hootsuite |title=Former nuncio to US admits hearing rumors of McCarrick misconduct in 1994 |last=Duncan |first=Robert |date=29 October 2018 |newspaper=Catholic Herald |access-date=2 November 2018}}</ref>

On 10 January 2019, ''{{wipe|The Washington Post}}'' published a story stating that Wuerl, despite his past denials, was aware of allegations against McCarrick in 2004 by former priest Robert Ciolek and reported them to the Vatican. Both the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Diocese of Washington acknowledged that Wuerl knew about and had reported Ciolek's allegation to the Vatican.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/2019/01/10/b542cbba-1513-11e9-803c-4ef28312c8b9_story.html |title=Despite past denials, D.C. Cardinal Donald Wuerl knew of sexual misconduct allegations against ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick and reported them to Vatican |last=Boorstein |first=Michelle |date=10 January 2019 |newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}} |access-date=10 January 2019}}</ref>

On 14 January, Viganò urged McCarrick to publicly repent for his actions, telling him that his "eternal salvation is at stake." He continued, "Time is running out. But you can confess and repent of your sins, crimes and sacrileges, and do so publicly, since they have themselves become public."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/archbishop-vigano-calls-on-theodore-mccarrick-to-publicly-repent |title=In New Letter, Archbishop Viganò Calls on McCarrick to Publicly Repent |last=Pentin |first=Edward |date=14 January 2019 |newspaper=National Catholic Register |access-date=14 January 2019}}</ref>

In February 2019, French author [[Biography:Frédéric Martel|Frédéric Martel]] affirmed that Pope Francis's aides told him that Viganò had informed Francis about allegations involving seminarians but that Francis had dismissed them. According to Martel, "when the Pope dismissed the allegations, his entourage indicated to me that 'Francis was initially informed by Viganò that Cardinal McCarrick had had homosexual relations with over-age seminarians, which was not enough to condemn him.'"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/pope-knew-about-mccarrick-allegations-but-dismissed-them-claims-writer-of-new-expose/ |title=Pope knew about McCarrick allegations but dismissed them, claims writer of new exposé |date=February 18, 2019 |publisher=The Catholic Herald |access-date=19 February 2019}}</ref>

===Release of McCarrick correspondence===
Correspondence obtained by ''Crux'' which was released on May 28, 2019 shows that Benedict XVI imposed travel restrictions on McCarrick in 2008, as Viganò said. However, McCarrick gradually began to resume travelling. The correspondence also indicates that, contrary to Wuerl's denials, he was aware of the restrictions imposed on McCarrick. McCarrick writes that he discussed the restrictions with Wuerl in 2008, saying that his "help and understanding is, as always, a great help and fraternal support to me". However, a spokesperson for Wuerl denied that he had any such knowledge.<ref name="Crux5282019">{{cite web |url=https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2019/05/28/mccarrick-correspondence-confirms-restrictions-speaks-to-wuerl-and-china/ |title=McCarrick correspondence confirms restrictions, speaks to Wuerl and China |date=28 May 2019 |publisher=Crux Now |access-date=28 May 2019 |archive-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529171935/https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2019/05/28/mccarrick-correspondence-confirms-restrictions-speaks-to-wuerl-and-china/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2019, Viganò gave his first extended interview since he released his allegations by corresponding through email with ''The Washington Post''. It was released in June of that year. In it, he accused Pope Francis of defrocking McCarrick without a trial in order to avoid the possibility of having other bishops who knew about or covered up for McCarrick implicated. "Moreover, having made the sentence definitive, the pope has made it impossible to conduct any further investigation, which could have revealed who in the Curia and elsewhere knew of McCarrick's abuses, when they knew it, and who helped him to be named archbishop of Washington and eventually a cardinal. Note, by the way, that the documents of this case, whose publication had been promised, have never been produced," he said.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/archbishop-carlo-maria-vigano-gives-his-first-extended-interview-since-calling-on-the-pope-to-resign/2019/06/10/00205748-8b79-11e9-b08e-cfd89bd36d4e_story.html |title=Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò gives first extended interview since calling on the pope to resign |date=10 June 2019 |newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}} |access-date=15 June 2019}}</ref>

In an interview from September 2019, McCarrick, who continued to maintain his innocence, commented on Viganò's allegations. "He was talking as a representative of the far right, I think. I don't want to say he's a liar, but I think some of the bishops have said that he was not telling the truth", he said.<ref name="Slate932019">{{cite magazine |last=Graham |first=Ruth |title=Theodore McCarrick Still Won't Confess |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/09/theodore-mccarrick-archbishop-interview-kansas-sexual-abuse.html |magazine=Slate |date=3 September 2019 |access-date=3 September 2019}}</ref>

===Vatican report===
A report released by the Vatican on November 10, 2020 included additional information about reports surrounding McCarrick's behavior. The report states that John Paul II had heard rumors about McCarrick engaging in sexual misconduct but did not believe them. It largely supports Viganò's contention about restrictions being imposed under the papacy of Benedict XVI, stating that Benedict had received a complaint concerning sexual molestation by McCarrick against a seminarian and that the Vatican Office for Bishops attempted to impose restrictions on his public activities but that he refused to abide by them. The report singles out Viganò by stating that he called for an "exemplary measure" against McCarrick while working for the Office of the Secretariat of State, but says that Benedict decided to keep the restrictions private. The report mostly fails to support the accusations levied by Archbishop Viganò against Pope Francis. It says that Francis, before becoming pope, had heard of allegations against McCarrick but believed them to be rejected by John Paul II, and that he had heard rumors of immoral sexual behavior by McCarrick but that he did not receive documentation about it until 2017, and that he did not learn of any allegation of McCarrick abusing minors until 2018. It refutes the idea that Francis made McCarrick an important advisor or that he sought to cover for him.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/europe/cardinal-theodore-mccarrick-vatican-report-intl/index.html |title=Vatican admits Pope John Paul II was warned about abusive archbishop Theodore McCarrick, while clearing Francis |last1=Gallagher |first1=Delia |last2=Greene |first2=Richard |last3=Messia |first3=Hada |last4=Picheta |first4=Rob |date=November 10, 2020 |publisher=CNN |access-date=November 10, 2020}}</ref><ref name="AP111020">{{cite web |url=https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/findings-in-vatican-report-into-ex-cardinal-mccarrick/65-f3a47d57-95f4-4368-9945-a7ac909c5a02 |title=Key findings in Vatican report into ex-Cardinal McCarrick |date=November 10, 2020 |publisher=Associated Press |access-date=November 10, 2020}}</ref>

==Conspiracy theories and Donald Trump==
In May 2020,  ''National Catholic Reporter'' reported that a number of German bishops had rejected COVID-19 conspiracy theories spread by Viganò,<ref name="catholic-SF_20200511">{{cite web |url=https://catholic-sf.org/news/german-bishops-reject-covid-19-conspiracy-theories-by-prominent-clergy |title=German Bishops Reject COVID-19 Conspiracies |date=May 11, 2020 |publisher=Catholic San Francisco |access-date=June 21, 2020 |archive-date=22 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722033635/https://catholic-sf.org/news/german-bishops-reject-covid-19-conspiracy-theories-by-prominent-clergy |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/vatican-cardinal-new-row-over-virus-pretext-petition |title=Vatican cardinal in new row over virus "pretext" petition |last=Whinefield |first=Nicole |date=May 8, 2020 |publisher=National Catholic Reporter |access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref> saying that "populists and other conspiracy theorists [...] want to interpret all efforts to contain the pandemic as a pretext to found a hate-filled technocratic tyranny and wipe out Christian civilization."<ref name="catholic-SF_20200511"/> Viganò had circulated an appeal he wrote and posted on the website ''Veritas Liberabit Vos'' in which he criticized "disproportionate and unjustifiable restrictions" on the "exercise of freedom of worship, expression and movement" enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it was "[[Social:Social engineering (political science)|social engineering]]" and "subtle forms of [[Social:Dictatorship|dictatorship]]" that violated "[[Philosophy:Natural rights and legal rights|inalienable rights of citizens]] and their fundamental freedoms" and were a "disturbing prelude to the realization of a [[Social:World government|world government]] beyond all control".<ref name="NCR_20200507">{{Cite web| last = Pentin| first = Edward| title = Cardinals, Bishops Sign Appeal Against Coronavirus Restrictions| work = National Catholic Register (NCR)| access-date = January 29, 2021 |date=May 7, 2020| url = https://www.ncregister.com/blog/cardinals-bishops-sign-appeal-against-coronavirus-restrictions}}</ref> He cast doubt on the "contagiousness, danger and resistance of the virus".<ref name="NCR_20200507"/> He said that "foreign powers" and "shady interests" were interfering in domestic affairs and were part of a "plot to create a world government" that "would result in the permanent imposition of unacceptable forms of restriction on freedoms".<ref name="NPR_20200508">{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/08/853110793/some-see-plot-to-create-world-government-in-coronavirus-restrictions |title=Some See Plot To Create 'World Government' In Coronavirus Restrictions |last=Jelten |first=Tom G. |date=May 8, 2020 |publisher=NPR |access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref>

In his June 7, 2020 letter to then-President Donald Trump, which was published on ''LifeSiteNews'',<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Dickson |first=Caitlin |date=October 31, 2020 |title='A global conspiracy against God and humanity': Controversial Catholic archbishop pushes QAnon themes in letter to Trump |url=https://news.yahoo.com/a-global-conspiracy-against-god-and-humanity-controversial-catholic-archbishop-pushes-q-anon-themes-in-letter-to-trump-134003985.html |access-date=2022-10-19 |website=[[Software:Yahoo! News|Yahoo! News]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Viganò made "apocalyptic claims about a looming spiritual battle and a globalist conspiracy pursuing a one-world government", according to the ''Catholic News Agency''.<ref name="CNA6112020">{{Cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/trump-twitter-mention-latest-twist-in-archbishop-carlo-vigano-saga-51396 |title=Trump mention is latest twist in Archbishop Vigano |last=Flynn |first=JD |date=June 11, 2020 |publisher=Catholic News Agency |access-date=June 21, 2020}}</ref> Viganò said that some Catholic bishops were aligned with the [[Unsolved:New World Order (conspiracy theory)|New World Order conspiracy]],<ref name="Fox_Parke_20200608"/><ref name="WaPo_Boorstein_20200610"/> and that they invoked the Masonic "universal brotherhood" — also part of the new world order plot. He described the protests and the COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns as a Biblical struggle between light and dark, urging President Trump to fight against the deep state in the United States, which included responding to the protests.<ref name="Fox_Parke_20200608">{{Cite web |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/trump-dc-catholic-bishop-protest-coronavirus |title=Bishop Protest Coronavirus |last=Parke |first=Caleb |date=June 8, 2020 |publisher=Fox News |access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref> Viganò alleged that the protests were organized by now President Joe Biden who embodies the deep state goals.<ref name="WaPo_Boorstein_20200610">{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/06/10/trump-archbishop-vigano-letter-deep-state/ |title=Trump praises Italian archbishop who urges him to fight 'deep state' protests |last=Boorstein |first=Michelle |date=June 10, 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=November 10, 2020}}</ref> President Trump responded favorably to the letter in a Tweet and encouraged everyone to read Viganò's letter.<ref name="NCR_20200618">{{cite web |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/parish/priests-parishes-share-vigan-s-letter-trump |title=Priests, parishes share Viganò's letter to Trump |last=White |first=Christopher |date=June 18, 2020 |publisher=National Catholic Reporter |access-date=July 5, 2020}}</ref>

Journalists, from Radio Canada, ''{{wipe|The New York Times}}'' and historian and theologian Massimo Faggioli, traced the link between President Trump and Viganò, to the archbishop's appointment in 2011 as Nuncio to the United States.<ref name="NCR_nuncio_201109"/><ref name= "ICIRadioCanada_DeLancer_20201109">{{Cite news| last = De Lancer| first = Alexis| title = Élections américaines : au nom du père, du fils et de QAnon| work = Ici Radio Canada| access-date = January 29, 2021| date = November 9, 2020| url = https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1748010/trump-vigano-qanon-lettre-vatican}}</ref><ref name="NYT_Horowitz_20151010">{{Cite news| issn = 0362-4331| last = Horowitz| first = Jason| title = Archbishop at Center of Mystery of Papal Meeting With Kim Davis| work = The New York Times| accessdate = 2021-01-30| date = 2015-10-02| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/world/europe/archbishop-at-center-of-mystery-of-papal-meeting-with-kim-davis.html}}</ref> In 2008, when President [[Biography:Barack Obama|Obama]] was elected, American Catholics had increased their influence through their alliance with the [[Social:Tea Party movement|Tea Party]], according to Faggioli.<ref name="NYT_Horowitz_20151010"/> Faggioli said that in Washington over the next five years, Viganò "forged close ties" with the a "militant fringe" of traditionalist Catholics and gradually embraced conspiracy theories.<ref name= "ICIRadioCanada_DeLancer_20201109"/> When Pope Francis became Pope, some Catholics in the United States believed it was part of a globalist elite plot to liberalize the Catholic Church. Faggioli said that Trump had popularized and normalized the conspiracy theories, so that when Viganò published of a series of letters with strong conspiratorial overtones from May to October 2020, Trump's "most ardent Catholic supporters" had adhered to Viganò's messages.<ref name="ICIRadioCanada_DeLancer_20201109"/>

In a July 2020 interview, Viganò accused Pope Francis of following the 'homosexual agenda of the New World Order'.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 July 2020 |title=Catholic Archbishop accuses Pope Francis of heresy, corruption and turning a blind eye to homosexuality |url=https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/catholic-archbishop-accuses-pope-francis-of-heresy-corruption-and-turning-a-blind-eye-to-homosexuality |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Premier Christian News |language=en}}</ref>

On October 30, 2020, Viganò wrote another letter to President Trump which framed the [[Organization:World Economic Forum|World Economic Forum]]'s Great Reset initiative within the context of the New World Order global conspiracy theory "against God and humanity".<ref name="Vigano_Trump_20201030">{{Cite web| last = Viganò| first = Carlo Maria| title = Open Letter to President Donald Trump| work = Catholic Family News| access-date = January 28, 2021| date = October 30, 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128231541/https://catholicfamilynews.com/blog/2020/10/30/open-letter-to-president-donald-trump/ |archive-date=January 28, 2021| url = https://catholicfamilynews.com/blog/2020/10/30/open-letter-to-president-donald-trump/}}</ref>  He said the Great Reset was led by the "global élite" who wanted to "subdue" humanity using "coercive measures" to "limit individual freedoms".<ref name="Vigano_Trump_20201030"/><ref>{{Cite web|last=Moynihan|first=Robert|date=October 30, 2020|title=Open Letter to President Donald Trump |number=32|url=https://insidethevatican.com/news/newsflash/letter-32-friday-october-30-2020-vigano-to-trump/|access-date=November 7, 2020|website=Inside The Vatican|language=en-US}}</ref> Viganò said the price of a promised basic universal income from the [[Organization:International Monetary Fund|International Monetary Fund]] would be the "renunciation of private property". He warned that a digital ID, a health passport, and [[Biography:Bill Gates|Bill Gates]]' [[Medicine:COVID-19 vaccine|vaccination]] would become mandatory, and refusal to comply would result in internment. Viganò said that the lockdowns in the early months of 2021 were part of the activation of the Great Reset. Viganò said in the October 30 letter that then President Trump represented the "final garrison against the world dictatorship" and that the United States represented a "defending wall" in a "war" against globalists, such as the President of the United States Joe Biden, Pope Francis (whom Viganò addresses as simply Jorge Mario Bergoglio), Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, France's President Emmanuel Macron, and Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.<ref name="Vigano_Trump_20201030"/> Sections of this letter were included in an article by ''The Spectator'' columnist, James Delingpole—a key proponent of [[Finance:Great Reset#Conspiracy theory by the same name|the great reset conspiracy theory]]—a version of the anti-lockdown conspiracy.<ref name="theguardian_Slobodian_20201204">{{Cite news| issn = 0261-3077| last = Slobodian| first = Quinn| title = How the 'great reset' of capitalism became an anti-lockdown conspiracy| work = The Guardian| access-date = January 28, 2021| date = December 4, 2020| url = https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/04/great-reset-capitalism-became-anti-lockdown-conspiracy}}</ref> One Church official said that he was "simply stunned at what is being disseminated in the name of the Church and Christendom: crude conspiracy theories without facts or evidence combined with a right-wing populist combative rhetoric that sounds frightening."<ref name="catholic-SF_20200511"/> Viganò did not offer proof to support his claims, according to the CNA.<ref name="CNA6112020"/>

==Statements regarding Vatican II and Pope Francis==
On 14 October 2019, the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church, an excommunicated [[Religion:Sedevacantism|sedevacantist]] group which is a split from the [[Religion:Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church|Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]], announced they had elected Archbishop Viganò as their Pope.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 October 2019 |title=Habemus papam |url=http://vkpatriarhat.org/en/?p=16979 |access-date=2019-10-15 |website=Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-15 |title=Habemus papam |url=http://uogcc.org.ua/en/actual/article/?article=20610 |access-date=2021-08-30 |website=uogcc.org.ua}}</ref> Whether Viganò accepted the result of this election is unclear.

In June 2020, Viganò said that the Second Vatican Council ushered in a schism where a false church exists within the Catholic Church alongside what he considers to be the [[One true church|true church]]. "The errors of the post-conciliar period were contained ''in nuce'' in the Conciliar Acts," he said.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|title=Analysis: As Archbishop Viganò denounces Vatican II, the Vatican is not speaking|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/analysis-as-archbishop-vigan-denounces-vatican-ii-the-vatican-is-not-speaking-87685|date=July 1, 2020|access-date=July 6, 2020|publisher=Catholic News Agency}}</ref>  Viganò criticized the interreligious activities of Pope John Paul II and especially of Pope Francis, seeking to link actions undertaken during their pontificates to what he perceived to be errors or ambiguities in the council. "If the [[Religion:Pachamama|pachamama]] could be adored in a church, we owe it to ''Dignitatis humanae'' [Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Freedom] [...]. If the Abu Dhabi Declaration was signed, we owe it to ''Nostra aetate'' [Vatican II's Declaration on non-Christian religions]", he said.<ref name="CNA6112020" /> In response to the declaration, Father Raymond J. de Souza, editor of the conservative magazine ''Convivium'', wrote a piece on the ''National Catholic Register'' accusing Viganò's of promoting schism and heresy and holding "a position contrary to the Catholic faith on the authority of ecumenical councils".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-28 |title=Is Archbishop Viganò's Rejection of the Second Vatican Council Promoting Schism? |url=https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/is-archbishop-vigano-s-rejection-of-the-second-vatican-council-promoting-schism |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=NCR |language=en}}</ref> Italian conservative Catholic commentator Sandro Magister described Vaganò's position as "on the brink of schism".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Magister |first=Sandro |date=2020-07-13 |title=The "Fake News" of Viganò and Company. Unmasked by a Cardinal |url=http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2020/07/13/the-%e2%80%9cfake-news%e2%80%9d-of-vigano-and-company-unmasked-by-a-cardinal/ |access-date= |website=Settimo Cielo |language=it}}</ref>

In response to ''Traditionis custodes'', a document issued by Pope Francis in July 2021 which imposed restrictions on the Tridentine Mass, Viganò called Francis a "non-Catholic pope".<ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-09-17|title=These Americans are devoted to the old Latin Mass. They are also at odds with Pope Francis.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/17/latin-mass-pope-francis/|access-date=2021-11-15|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en}}</ref> Following the enactment of [[Religion:Fiducia supplicans|Fiducia Supplicans]], which allows priests to bless same-sex couples and individuals under certain conditions, Viganò described Pope Francis as a "[[Unsolved:False prophet|false prophet]]" and a "servant of [[Biography:Satan|Satan]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Trapnell |first=Oliver |date=6 January 2024 |title=Archbishop claims blessings for same-sex couples proves Pope Francis is 'servant of Satan' |url=https://www.msn.com/ |access-date= |website=GB News}}</ref>

== Support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine ==
On 7 March 2022, Viganò released a 24-page manifesto entitled, “Declaration on the Russia-Ukraine Crisis,” in which he argued that “The United States of America and the European nations should not marginalize Russia, but rather form an alliance with her, not only for the restoration of trade for the prosperity of all, but in view of the reconstruction of a Christian Civilization, which alone can save the world from the globalist techno-health transhuman monster”.<ref name="Lewis">{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Mike |date=2022-03-10 |title=Has Viganò changed? |url=https://wherepeteris.com/has-vigano-changed/ |access-date= |website=Where Peter Is |language=en-US}}</ref> Viganò adopted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justifications for attacking Ukraine, lamenting the lack of media coverage of supposed neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine, particularly the Azov Battalion, that have allegedly attacked Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the autonomous eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Giangravé |first=Claire |date=2022-03-07 |title=Archbishop Viganò pushes conspiracy theories about Ukraine and Russia in 10,000-word letter |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2022/03/07/vigano-ukraine-242526 |access-date= |website=America |language=en}}</ref>

The manifesto drew sharp criticism from many Catholic commentators, including some who had earlier led their support to Viganò's attacks against the Pontiff: British Catholic commentator Damian Thompson, associate editor of ''The Spectator'' and former editor-in-chief of the ''Catholic Herald'', described Viganò's statement as "repulsive", while J.D. Flynn, editor of ''The Pillar'', argued that the missive was written by someone else under Viganò's name.<ref name="Lewis"/> Italian traditionalist Catholic author [[Biography:Roberto de Mattei|Roberto de Mattei]] was also strongly critical of Viganò's views, accusing him of [[Social:Collaborationism|collaborationism]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mattei |first=Roberto de |date=2022-03-16 |title=Il messaggio di Fatima chiave di lettura del nostro tempo |url=https://www.robertodemattei.it/il-messaggio-di-fatima-chiave-di-lettura-del-nostro-tempo/ |access-date= |website=Roberto de Mattei |language=it-IT}}</ref> US conservative Catholic commentator George Weigel dismissed the document as "absurdities", which "are reproducing Kremlin disinformation and propaganda point-for-point".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weigel |first=George |date=2022-03-16 |title=Archbishop Viganò and Colonel Grace-Groundling-Marchpole |url=https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2022/03/archbishop-vigan-and-colonel-grace-groundling-marchpole |access-date= |website=First Things |language=en}}</ref>

On 16 March 2023, Viganò published a new open letter, wherein he welcomed the founding of the “International Movement of Russophiles”. In it, he described Russia as “the last bastion of civilization against barbarism, and gathers around it all those nations that do not intend to submit to the colonization of NATO, the {{wipe|United Nations}}, the [[Organization:World Health Organization|World Health Organization]], the [[Organization:World Bank|World Bank]], the [[Organization:International Monetary Fund|International Monetary Fund]] and that heap of foundations that have as their purpose the indoctrination of the masses, the manipulation of information, the creation of ‘colored springs’ to destabilize governments legitimately elected and sow chaos, wars and misery as ''instrumentum regni''.”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moynihan |first=Dr Robert |date=2023-03-16 |title=Letter #74, 2023 Thurs Mar 16: Viganò |url=https://insidethevatican.com/news/newsflash/letter-74-2023-thurs-mar-16-vigano/ |access-date=2023-10-04 |website=Inside The Vatican |language=en-US}}</ref> Viganò continued by dismissing the Covid pandemic as a "farce conducted with criminal methods that I have not hesitated to denounce since the beginning of 2020" and describing the Ukrainian crisis as a "deliberately provoked [emergency] with the aim of destroying the social and economic fabric of nations, decimating the world population, concentrating control in the hands of an oligarchy that no one has elected and that has perpetrated a real world coup d’état, for which sooner or later it will be called to answer before the world", naming George Soros, Klaus Schwab and [[Biography:Bill Gates|Bill Gates]] as the perpetrators of such alleged conspiracy, connecting this to alleged conspiracies to prevent Donald Trump from being re-elected in 2020 and force Pope Benedict XVI to resign in 2013. Mike Lewis, managing editor of the progressive Catholic website ''Where Peter Is'', described the letter as "the most astounding and bizarre public document created by this deeply troubled man to date".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Mike |date=2023-03-20 |title=The Bishops and the Madman |url=https://wherepeteris.com/the-bishops-and-the-madman/ |access-date= |website=Where Peter Is |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Schismatic movement and re-consecration ==
In July 2023, Viganò established the association ''Exsurge Domine'' to provide support to clergy, laity and religious who have been suspended, laicized and or sanctioned by the Catholic hierarchy due to their traditionalist positions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archbishop Vigano establishes Exsurge domine to help victims of the “deep church” {{!}} Anglican Ink © 2024 |url=https://anglican.ink/2023/07/01/archbishop-vigano-establishes-exsurge-domine-to-help-victims-of-the-deep-church/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=anglican.ink}}</ref>

In his December 2023 newsletter, Viganò announced the establishment of a traditionalist Catholic seminary called ''Collegium Traditionis'' in Viterbo, providing training to seminarians not willing to accept "the errors of the Second Vatican Council or the deviations of Bergoglio".<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Viganò |first=Carlo Maria |date=2 December 2023 |title=The Collegium Traditionis is born |url=https://exsurgedomine.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Newsletter-ED-231208-ENG.pdf |journal=Exsurge Domine}}</ref> He claimed to follow the example of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who founded the Écône Seminary in opposition to the Second Vatican Council and was eventually excommunicated by [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] for [[Religion:Écône consecrations|illicitly consecrating four bishops]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=11 December 2023 |title=Pope's opponent Viganò wants to found traditionalist seminary |url=https://english.katholisch.de/artikel/49443-popes-opponent-vigano-wants-to-found-traditionalist-seminary |access-date= |website=Katholisch.de |language=de}}</ref> According to Viganò, two seminarians have already enrolled.<ref name=":0" />  

In January 2024, it was reported by several sources that Viganò had been [[Religion:Conditional sacrament|conditionally re-consecrated]] to the episcopate by excommunicated Bishop Richard Williamson, a former member of the Society of Saint Pius X and well-known [[Unsolved:Holocaust denial|Holocaust denier]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peloso |first=Francesco |date=16 January 2024 |title=Viganò supera a destra i lefebvriani: il fronte tradizionalista si divide dopo Fiducia supplicans |url=https://www.editorialedomani.it/politica/mondo/vigano-supera-a-destra-i-lefebvriani-il-fronte-tradizionalista-si-divide-dopo-fiducia-supplicans-qs2wob63 |access-date= |website=Domani |language=it-it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sartini |first=Serena |date=2024-01-12 |title=Viganò, il vescovo ribelle riconsacrato dal lefebvriano. Cresce la fronda anti Papa |url=https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/politica/vigan-vescovo-ribelle-riconsacrato-lefebvriano-cresce-2267257.html |access-date= |website=il Giornale |language=it}}</ref> The conditional re-consecration seems to imply that Viganò now believes that sacraments confected through the current Roman Missal are of dubious validity and, as such, his own consecration as Bishop in 1992 by Pope John Paul II is dubious as well. Should the news be confirmed by papal authorities, Viganò would be excommunicated ''latae sententiae''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cascioli |first=Riccardo |date=11 January 2024 |title=Crisis generates schisms: also Monsignor Viganò goes his own way |url=https://newdailycompass.com/en/crisis-generates-schisms-also-monsignor-vigano-goes-his-own-way |access-date= |website=New Daily Compass |language=en |quote=The episcopal re-consecration of Monsignor Viganò, "sub condicione", means that the former apostolic nuncio to the United States has become convinced of the thesis (first supported and then rejected by Lefebvre) that all the sacraments administered after the Second Vatican Council are "dubious", i.e. their validity would be questionable because of the doctrinal deviations made by the Council itself.}}</ref>

After being questioned by the conservative Catholic website ''New Daily Compass'' on the issue, Viganò did not deny the news and declared himself astonished by the publication's interest in his personal affairs.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Cascioli |first=Riccardo |date=11 January 2024 |title=Crisis generates schisms: also Monsignor Viganò goes his own way |url=https://newdailycompass.com/en/crisis-generates-schisms-also-monsignor-vigano-goes-his-own-way |access-date= |website=New Daily Compass |language=en}}</ref> The ''New Daily Compass'' criticized Viganò's actions as schismatic.<ref name=":1" />

==Controversy surrounding family estate==
On 15 November 2018, it was revealed that a civil court in Milan, Italy had issued a ruling in October 2018 which ordered Viganò to surrender €1.8 million of inheritance, plus interest and legal fees, to his brother Lorenzo Viganò.<ref name="cruxnov15">{{cite news |date=15 November 2018 |title=Italian court rules Viganò must repay $2 million to his brother |url=https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/11/15/italian-court-rules-vigano-must-repay-2-million-to-his-brother/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119010801/https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/11/15/italian-court-rules-vigano-must-repay-2-million-to-his-brother/ |archive-date=19 November 2018 |access-date=18 November 2018 |publisher=Crux Now}}</ref><ref name="ncrnov15">{{cite news |last=Glantz |first=Carol |date=15 November 2018 |title=Milan court rules against Archbishop Viganò in inheritance lawsuit |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/milan-court-rules-against-archbishop-vigan-inheritance-lawsuit |access-date=18 November 2018 |newspaper=National Catholic Register}}</ref><ref name="viganonov18">{{cite web |date=18 November 2018 |title=Archbishop Viganò ordered to pay 2m euro to brother in inheritance dispute |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/archbishop-vigano-ordered-to-pay-2m-euro-to-brother-in-inheritance-dispute-99284 |access-date=18 November 2018 |publisher=Catholic News Agency}}</ref> He had been managing his brother's inheritance since their father's death in 1961 and was ordered to pay back his brother Lorenzo, a priest of the Italian Diocese of Pavia who has resided in Chicago, and whom he has also long been on bad terms with,<ref name="cruxnov15" /><ref name="ncrnov15" /><ref name="viganonov18" /> compensation for the money which he used allegedly from Lorenzo's share in the inheritance, along with interest and legal fees.<ref name="cruxnov15" /><ref name="ncrnov15" /><ref name="viganonov18" /> The money which Lorenzo received accounted for half of what Viganò collected from the inheritance.<ref name="cruxnov15" /><ref name="viganonov18" /> Lorenzo had previously filed a lawsuit against Viganò in 2010 as well,<ref name="viganonov18" /> but later dropped his first case in 2014 after Viganò agreed to donate $180,000 to a children's hospital in Tanzania where a daughter of their sister Rosanna Viganò was working,<ref name="ncrnov15" /> and also return to Rosanna €8,600 (US$11,000) used in 1983 in order to buy an apartment.<ref name="ncrnov15" /><ref name="viganonov18" />

Viganò's critics allege he sought to use Lorenzo's health problems, which resulted from a stroke, as a reason to avoid taking the position as nuncio to the United States, saying that he needed to care for his brother, whereas the real reason was that Viganò was seeking to obtain better access to the family's possessions, which he would get by remaining in Rome.<ref name="cruxnov15" />

Viganò denied the accusations. His supporters said they were a smear campaign designed to discredit him.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 December 2018 |title=Archbishop Viganò Addresses Dispute With Brother Over Family Inheritance |url=https://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/archbishop-vigano-addresses-dispute-with-brother-over-inheritance |website=National Catholic Register}}</ref> The other siblings of the archbishop have come forward in a press release to support him in the case against their brother Lorenzo.<ref>{{cite web |last=Aldo |first=Maria Valli |date=28 August 2018 |title=Parla Viganò: "Non sono il corvo e non agisco per vendetta. Voglio solo che la verità emerga" |url=https://www.aldomariavalli.it/2018/08/28/parla-vigano-non-sono-il-corvo-e-non-agisco-per-vendetta-voglio-solo-che-la-verita-emerga/ |access-date=April 22, 2020 |publisher=Aldo Maria Valli}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Aldo |first=Maria Valli |title=Comunicato dei fratelli Viganò |url=https://www.aldomariavalli.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Il-comunicato-dei-fratelli-Vigano.pdf |access-date=April 22, 2020 |publisher=Aldo Maria Valli}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Religion:Foreign relations of the Holy See|Foreign relations of the Holy See]]
* List of ambassadors of the United States to the Holy See
* List of diplomatic missions of the Holy See
* List of heads of the diplomatic missions of the Holy See
<!-- please keep entries in alphabetical order -->

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* List of all [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/nunciatures.htm Apostolic Nunciatures] and [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/delegations.htm Apostolic Delegations] by Giga-Catholic Information

{{s-start}}
{{s-dip}}
{{s-bef | before = Paul Fouad Tabet}}
{{s-ttl | title = Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria | years = 3 April 1992 – 4 April 1998}}
{{s-aft | after = Osvaldo Padilla}}
{{s-bef | before = Pietro Sambi}}
{{s-ttl | title = Apostolic Nuncio to the United States | years = 19 October 2011 – 12 April 2016}}
{{s-aft | after = Christophe Pierre}}
{{s-bef | before = Salvatore Boccaccio}}
{{s-tul | title = Archbishop of Ulpiana | years = 3 April 1992 – present}}
{{s-inc}}
{{s-bef | before = Francesco Monterisi}}
{{s-ttl | title = Delegate for Pontifical Representations | years = 4 April 1998 – 16 July 2009}}
{{s-aft | after = Luciano Suriani}}
{{s-bef | before = Renato Boccardo}}
{{s-ttl | title = Secretary-General of the Governatorate of the Vatican City State | years = 16 July 2009 – 3 September 2011}}
{{s-aft | after = Giuseppe Sciacca}}
{{s-end}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigano, Carlo Maria}}
[[Category:Critics of atheism]]

{{Sourceattribution|Carlo Maria Viganò}}