spoiler
An Italian archbishop and staunch critic of Pope Francis has been excommunicated by the Vatican, its doctrinal office has said.
Carlo Maria Vigano was found guilty of schism - meaning he has split from the Catholic Church - after years of fierce disagreement with the pontiff.
The 83-year-old ultra-conservative has previously called on the Pope to resign, accusing him of heresy and criticising his stances on immigration, climate change and same-sex couples.
Archbishop Vigano was a senior figure in the Church, serving as papal envoy to Washington from 2011 to 2016.
In 2018 he went into hiding after alleging that the Pope had known about sexual abuse by an American cardinal and failed to act. The Vatican rejected the accusation.
Over time, the archbishop became associated with US conspiracy theorists, criticising Covid vaccines and alleging a “globalist” and “anti-Christian” project by the UN and other groups - both familiar conspiratorial themes.
On Friday the Vatican’s doctrinal office said his refusal to submit to Pope Francis was clear from his public statements.
“The Most Reverend Carlo Maria Vigano was found guilty of the reserved delict [violation of the law] of schism,” the statement said, adding that he had been excommunicated - or banished from the church.
Responding by a post on X, the archbishop linked to the decree that was emailed to him and said:
“What was attributed to me as guilt for my conviction is now put on record, confirming the Catholic Faith that I fully profess.”
Archbishop Vigano was charged with schism and denying the pope’s legitimacy last month. At the time, he write on X that he regarded the accusations against him as “an honour”.
“I repudiate, reject, and condemn the scandals, errors, and heresies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio,” he said, using Argentine Pope’s given name.
Pope Francis has put himself at odds with traditionalist Catholics by making overtures towards the LGBTQ+ community, championing migrant rights and condemning the excesses of capitalism.
Last year, he took action against another ultra-conservative critic, dismissing Bishop Joseph E Strickland of Texas when he refused to resign after an investigation.
Being a catholic means that you recognise the infallibility of the pope.
Being a communist does not imply that you think that general secretaries and the like are infallible.
EDIT: And yes, I am saying that if you want to be a catholic (in particular, but I also have a more general claim), if you want to be principled, and if you want to not be a shithead, you have to choose up to two of those things.
Isn’t the pope only truly infallible when he’s speaking ex cathedra? Idk if excommunications are made ex-cathedra but I feel like every organization needs a way of fully and finally expelling members from itself who don’t align with its beliefs or mission.
I fully get that the current pope is simply less bad than the usual popes and that the next guy could be an absolute monster. I just don’t think that expelling a guy for being an anti-vaxx conspiracy theorist is a good example of the Catholic church being bad.
What non-ex cathedra stuff did the archbishop criticise the pope for?
Meaning that, in a decent organisation, there shouldn’t be rules that give the leadership a carte blanche to do basically whatever they want or make you promise to claim that said leadership is infallible.
I’m not saying that the church expelling him is a bad thing. I am saying that the archbishop’s actions were an example of catholics being unprincipled whenever it suits them.
However, I am also saying that no principled catholic can be a good person on account of upholding the authority of a pedophilic church that has done a plethora of bad things.
If belief in the pope’s infallibility is a requirement for being Catholic then the excommunicated dude didn’t really want to be a Catholic and now he’s not a Catholic. Problem resolved, I don’t see what the issue is.
Dude was an archbishop who lost his job because he thought the pope was being too nice to LGBT people and immigrants. Good riddance, he can fuck off and find a real job. Today is the day the broken catholic clock gets to be right.
Then why was he a part of the church? Why was he a bishop?
Why didn’t the followers of the supposedly-unchanging god excommunicate people of the same beliefs about migrants and LGBT people previously? Or is their god dancing to the whims of the pope?
I can agree to that.