Viganò in New Statement: “Has Christ Perhaps Become Invisible to His Vicar?”

Steve Skojec's take on Archbishop Viganò's new release on Thursday. As is becoming common with these posts, it ends with the good Archbishop's letter, which I've already shared here.

From One Peter Five

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, whose 11-page testimony in August shook the Church all the way to the Apostolic See, has released a new statement today, challenging Pope Francis for his silence in the face of accusations that he was complicit in covering up for perpetrators of clerical sex abuse.

In his new statement, Viganò says his decision to reveal “those grave facts” was for him “the most painful and serious decision” that he had ever made in his life. “I made it,” writes Viganò, “after long reflection and prayer, during months of profound suffering and anguish, during a crescendo of continual news of terrible events, with thousands of innocent victims destroyed and the vocations and lives of young priests and religious disturbed.”

Viganò says that although some of what he revealed was covered under the pontifical secret, “the purpose of any secret, including the pontifical secret, is to protect the Church from her enemies, not to cover up and become complicit in crimes committed by some of her members.” Further, “as the Catechism of the Catholic Church states (par. 2491), the seal of secrecy is not binding when very grave harm can be avoided only by divulging the truth. Only the seal of confession could have justified my silence.”

Noting the fact that neither the pope nor the cardinals have denied any of the facts given in his testimony – a testimony Viganò declares “with a clear conscience before God” is true – the maxim “Qui tacit consentit” (Silence gives consent) “surely applies.” “If they deny my testimony,” the former papal nuncio remarks, “they have only to say so, and provide documentation to support that denial. How can one avoid concluding that the reason they do not provide the documentation is that they know it confirms my testimony?”

Viganò takes Francis to task not only for his pledge of silence – “I will not say a word!” – but also his failure to keep silence, comparing it “to that of Jesus in Nazareth and before Pilate,” and comparing Viganò “to the great accuser, Satan, who sows scandal and division in the Church – though without ever uttering” the archbishop’s name.

Instead of claiming that Viganò lied, he writes, “instead, he put in place a subtle slander against me – slander being an offense he has often compared to the gravity of murder. Indeed, he did it repeatedly, in the context of the celebration of the most Holy Sacrament, the Eucharist, where he runs no risk of being challenged by journalists.”

Today’s statement is a strong follow-up to what has already been released, and Viganò makes note that it was Cardinal Marc Ouellet who told him “of Pope Benedict’s sanctions on McCarrick.” “You have at your complete disposal,” says Viganò to Oullet, “key documents incriminating McCarrick and many in the curia for their cover-ups. Your Eminence, I urge you to bear witness to the truth.”