The testimony by Archbishop Vigano against #PopeFrancis are important but so is the fine detail and the context of what is being alleged.
There is nothing in Vigano’s testimony that says he informed #PopeFrancis of allegations concerning McCarrick and minors.
There is nothing in Vigano’s testimony that says he informed #PopeFrancis of allegations concerning McCarrick and minors.
The first allegations of grave sexual misconduct with seminarians against McCarrick were made in the Benedict XVI era. After credible claims that McCarrick abused minors came to light, Francis sanctioned McCarrick’s removal from ministry and as a cardinal.
There is no love lost between Vigano and the Pope. Vigano was at the centre of a fiasco involving Kim Davis - a clerk who refused to perform same-sex marriages - meeting the Pope in Washington (at Vigano’s residence). Vatican later stressed the meeting was not a papal endorsement
The fact Archbishop Vigano is part of an anti-Francis faction does *not* mean his allegations should be dismissed but is worth remembering. It is also a sign that critics of this papacy are feeling emboldened.
Vigano took part in a meeting this year with Cardinal Raymond Burke who electrified an audience of Francis critics by setting out when a Pope should be disobeyed.
PS in 2016 a memo revealed that Archbishop Vigano, as ambassador to the US, quashed an investigation into Archbishop John Nienstedt, accused of sexual misconduct with seminarians and covering up abuse
Despite all this, if the allegations that Vigano is making are true they are huge threat to the Pope’s credibility.
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