Archbishop’s Excommunication Fuels Revolt Against Rome
Rebels excoriating Vatican’s doctrine watchdog rally around Hollywood star Mel Gibson and Bishop Joseph Strickland
Rome’s recent excommunication of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has deepened the division in the Catholic Church, causing several Catholics to show their support for Viganò by demanding to be excommunicated as well.
The former papal ambassador to the U.S. and a fierce critic of Pope Francis was excommunicated on July 4 by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) after he was “found guilty of the reserved delict of schism.”
“His public statements manifesting his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to him, and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council are well known,” the DDF statement declared.
The excommunication was widely expected after Viganò on June 20 refused to attend the judicial process, defiantly announcing that he regarded the accusations against him to be “an honor.”
A week later, Viganò released a second statement declaring:
I do not recognize the authority of the tribunal that claims to judge me, nor of its Prefect, nor of the one who appointed him.
This decision of mine, certainly painful, is not the result of haste or a spirit of rebellion; but rather dictated by the moral necessity that as Bishop and Successor of the Apostles obliges me in conscience to bear witness to the Truth, that is, to God himself, to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Vatican’s verdict has sparked fierce dissent within the ranks of primarily traditionalist Catholics, who are themselves divided on Pope Francis’s papal legitimacy, with figures like Mel Gibson, Bishop Joseph Strickland, podcaster Taylor Marshall, and media outfit LifeSiteNews openly declaring their support for Viganò .
Actor Slams “Apostate” Pope
On July 6, Gibson published an open letter hailing Viganò’s excommunication as a “badge of honor” from the “false post conciliar church” and slamming Pope Francis as a “total apostate.”
“As always, you have hit the nail on the head regarding the illegitimacy of Francis,” he wrote in a letter addressed to Viganò. “I agree with you 100% that the post-conciliar church of Vatican II is a counterfeit church. … As you already know he (Pope Francis) has no power to excommunicate you because he is not even a Catholic.”
“So rejoice! I am with you and I hope Bergoglio excommunicates me from his false church of him also.”
Sacked Bishop of Tyler Stands with Viganò
Also on July 6, Bishop Joseph Strickland — whom Pope Francis sacked from his position as bishop of Tyler, Texas, last November — slammed Viganò’s excommunication, tweeting: “It seems we are left with only stones to cry out for justice because the voices of faithful disciples are mute, ignored or even silenced.
“Rather than addressing the serious questions and allegations Archbishop Viganò raises, he is summarily removed from the Church with an apparent motive to silence him,” Strickland wrote. “We should look closely at a Vatican that operates in this manner.”
Strickland has vigorously denied accusations of sedevacantism — “a claim within the Catholic Church that there has been no valid pope since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958.”
Please Support The Stream: Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.
Other traditionalist writers and podcasters have posted strongly worded messages and videos on social media attacking Pope Francis for Viganò’s excommunication.
“I don’t think Pope Francis and his circle are aware of just how many Catholics agree with Viganò’s thesis,” tweeted popular conference speaker Kennedy Hall. “I’ve met NO (Novus Ordo — the new rite of the Mass) attendees who think Francis is an anti-pope.”
Posting on X, Matt Gaspers, managing editor of Catholic Family News, said that Viganò’s “statements on Vatican II and the ecclesial crisis have been seismic & sorely needed.”
Traditionalist Catholic influencer Taylor Marshall, who has issued a series of videos since the prelate’s excommunication, ran a Twitter poll stating: “Catholics of goodwill are now asking: ‘If I support or sympathize with Archbishop Viganò, am I now excommunicated, as well?”
Anthony Stine, another traditionalist podcaster, tweeted: “After seeing the Viganò saga play out, can one legitimately be excommunicated by those who protect heretics, by those who spout heresy regularly (even if unintentionally as Francis’ defenders assert), and who remind us constantly that they’re building a new Synodal Church?”
Media Launch Pro-Viganò Petition
On July 5, LifeSiteNews, a pro-traditionalist Catholic media outfit, launched a petition titled “I Stand with Archbishop Viganò.” The appeal attacked the DDF for excommunicating Viganò “while disgraced Slovenian priest Marko Rupnik remains in good standing with the Vatican.”
Rupnik is accused of sexually abusing several nuns, but the Apostolic See swiftly revoked his excommunication after the DDF declared him guilty of absolving one of his sexual accomplices in the sacrament of confession.
LifeSiteNews also asked why senior clergy like German Cardinal Reinhard Marx and the archbishop of Luxembourg, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, were allowed to remain in the Church despite their heterodox views on homosexuality and the ordination of women.
“Other prominent 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,” LifeSiteNews complained.
Meanwhile, Italian journalist Aldo Maria Valli has published several letters on his blog from Catholics in Italy who are supporting the archbishop.
“The excommunication of St. Athanasius-Monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò will be a boomerang for the schismatic duo Bergoglio-Fernández, to whom we ask: excommunicate us all!” write Leonida Maria Tucci and Susanna Tucci.
Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.