Archbishop’s Excommunication Fuels Revolt Against Rome

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Rome’s recent excommunication of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has deepened the division in the Catholic Church, causing several Catholics to show their support for Viganò by demanding to be excommunicated as well.

The former papal ambassador to the U.S. and a fierce critic of Pope Francis was excommunicated on July 4 by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) after he was “found guilty of the reserved delict of schism.”

“His public statements manifesting his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to him, and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council are well known,” the DDF statement declared.

The excommunication was widely expected after Viganò on June 20 refused to attend the judicial process, defiantly announcing that he regarded the accusations against him to be “an honor.”

A week later, Viganò released a second statement declaring:

I do not recognize the authority of the tribunal that claims to judge me, nor of its Prefect, nor of the one who appointed him.
This decision of mine, certainly painful, is not the result of haste or a spirit of rebellion; but rather dictated by the moral necessity that as Bishop and Successor of the Apostles obliges me in conscience to bear witness to the Truth, that is, to God himself, to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

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The Vatican’s verdict has sparked fierce dissent within the ranks of primarily traditionalist Catholics, who are themselves divided on Pope Francis’s papal legitimacy, with figures like Mel Gibson, Bishop Joseph Strickland, podcaster Taylor Marshall, and media outfit LifeSiteNews openly declaring their support for Viganò .

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