LifeSiteNews launches petition praying for Archbishop Viganò after excommunication
LifeSiteNews has launched a petition praying for Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò following an announcement by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith today declaring that His Excellency is guilty of 'schism' and has been automatically excommunicated.
LifeSiteNews has launched a petition praying for Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò following an announcement by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) today that His Excellency is in “schism” and consequently has been latae sententiae (automatically) excommunicated. To sign the petition, click here.
LifeSite’s petition expresses support for Archbishop Viganò and his many “courageous public statements” while also noting that there has been a “blatant double standard” the Vatican has taken towards him with this unjust decree in comparison to truly dissident clerics and prominent laity across the world.
“The Dicastery’s announcement comes while disgraced Slovenian priest Marko Rupnik remains in good standing with the Vatican,” the petition reads. “Rupnikwas expelled from the Jesuits in 2023 and has been widely accused of sexually and spiritually abusing numerous persons, including nuns as well as men. According to testimony from one of his alleged victims, in the 1990s he abused at least 21 of the 40 members of the Aletti Center he belongs to, and still stunningly resides at in Rome.”
While Rupnik was automatically excommunicated by the Vatican in 2020 after the DDF unanimously ruled he was guilty of absolving one of his sexual accomplices, that penalty was quickly revoked, prompting speculation over whether Pope Francis personally intervened on the matter.
The petition also calls to mind that prominent priests and bishops, as well as cardinals and public figures, are given wide latitude to promote heretical teachings. It also observes that Francis himself gives them his implicit and explicit support to do this.
Notorious pro-LGBT Argentinian Cardinal Victor “Tucho” Fernandez, for instance, serves as the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Fernandez is the mastermind behind Fiducia Supplicans, a document that endorses blessings for homosexual “couples.” He has also attacked the Church’s long-held teaching that same-sex attraction is “intrinsically disordered.” In 1995, Fernandez published an erotic book on kissing titled Heal me with your mouth.
American Catholics who are still in “good standing” with the Vatican include pro-abortion U.S. President Joe Biden, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and pro-LGBT Jesuit Fr. James Martin. Martin repeatedly encourages persons who have homosexual and gender confusion tendencies to act out their sinful impulses.
LifeSite’s petition further notes that Luxembourger Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, who is a close confidant of Francis, has similarly called for ordaining women and married men to the sacred priesthood. German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who is pushing the heretical “German Synodal Way,” has also not been excommunicated. He celebrated a Mass for the “Munich Queer Community” in 2022 and has expressed support for ordaining homosexual men to the priesthood.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider said last week that for Pope Francis to excommunicate Archbishop Viganò he would only “increase divisions” in the Church. “I think the pope would be wise and prudent if he were to not excommunicate Archbishop Viganò,” His Excellency remarked. “I think that today the church has so much internal division that it would be imprudent, even if there is some canonical ground to judge Archbishop Viganò,”
Archbishop Viganó previously expressed his view that to be “excommunicated” from the “conciliar church” would be a great “honor,” referencing the fact that French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (1905-1991), the founder of the Society of St. Pius X, met the same fate in 1988.
LifeSite’s petition thanks Archbishop Viganò for his many “courageous public statements.” It also prays for him and for “the crisis in the Church” to come to a swift end. “Be assured that we are praying for you and for the leaders in the Vatican, so they come back to the faith that the Church has always defended,” it reads.
