Archbishop Excommunicated for the 'Crime of Schism'

Carlo Maria Vigano used to be the Vatican's envoy to the United States. Today, he's a former archbishop, excommunicated on Friday in a rare move by the Holy See for refusing to recognize Pope Francis, among other things, per the Washington Post. On June 20, Vigano announced he'd been charged by the Dicastery for the Doctrine for the Faith, the Vatican's disciplinary arm, of the "crime of schism" and denial of the legitimacy of the pontiff and said that he wouldn't cooperate with the Vatican's penal process, per the National Catholic Reporter.

• Background: Vigano, who served from 2011 to 2016 as the Vatican's ambassador to the US, has been one of the most outspoken critics of Francis and more liberal shifts made by the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. The archbishop has demanded that the pope resign and even called him "a servant of Satan," per the Post. Vigano, who has expressed support for former President Trump and appealed to the conservative right in America, has also alleged that Francis dismissed early warnings of sex abuse against defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick; insinuated (without evidence) that the pope was involved in a sex scandal of his own; and disseminated various conspiracy theories on QAnon and COVID vaccines.

• What the excommunication means: Per the AP, Vigano, 83, is now "formally outside the church and cannot celebrate or receive its sacraments," including officiating Mass, administering Holy Communion, or ordaining priests. His clerical title stands, unless he's eventually defrocked—a move that's made "if he is deemed to be unrepentant," per the Post. The Vatican's summary judgment against Vigano can only be reversed by a sitting pope, or by the Dicastery for the Doctrine for the Faith in the pope's name.
• Vigano's stance: The repentance the Vatican may be hoping for seems elusive, notes the Post. On Friday, Vigano—who has called the charges against himself an "honor"—posted on X that he fully intended to celebrate a full Mass that day, despite his excommunication. He also requested donations to his Exsurge Domine Foundation, which he said was offering "traditional training [to] six young seminarians."

(More excommunication stories.)