Pope Francis orders trial of Archbishop Viganò for schism
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò (Twitter photo)
(INDEPENDENT SENTINEL) – Conservative Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò says he is accused of splitting the church and denying the pontiff’s legitimacy. Former papal nuncio to the United States, Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, announced that he has been charged with schism by the Vatican’s doctrinal office after a six-year period in which he called for Pope Francis to resign and labeled him a “false prophet.”
On June 20, the archbishop posted on his own website a two-page decree from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith ordering him to appear for a trial regarding “public statements that show a denial of points necessary for the preservation of communion with the Catholic Church.”
The decree is dated June 11 and is signed by Msgr. John Kennedy, secretary of the doctrinal office’s disciplinary section. He requested that Viganò present himself on June 20 at 15:30 to receive the accusation and evidence against him formally.