Francis declared Archbishop Viganò excommunicated on Friday. Voices.
John A. Monaco, publicist:
"Now that Viganò has been excommunicated and in a state of schism, I
look forward to the Catholic Church’s warm, friendly, and irenic
ecumenical outreach to him. The Vatican should treat him like they treat
Orthodox and Protestants: warm embrace, allowing the use of our
churches."
And, "It’s very weird to have the same crowd begging
for shared communion between Catholics/Orthodox, who do ecumenical
prayer services with Protestant clergy, and who have 'reasonable hope'
that hell is empty to suddenly demand 'submission to the Roman Pontiff
or else'. Or else what?"
Mel Gibson, Open Letter to Viganò:
"I’m sure you expected nothing else from Jorge Bergoglio. I know that
you know he has no authority whatsoever – so I’m not sure how this will
effect you going forward. I hope you will continue to say mass &
receive the sacraments yourself – it really is a badge of honor to be
shunned by the false, post conciliar church. You have my sympathies that
you suffer publicly this grave injustice. To me & many others you
are a most courageous Hero."
Michael Matt, RemnantNewspaper.com:
"I have my disagreements with Archbishop Vigano but this swift
'justice' for the 83-year-old whistleblower on the part of a Vatican
notorious for dragging its feet for decades when it comes to sexual
abuse cases involving priest and even bishop predators . . . well, this
pretty much says it all when it comes to the fraud that is the so-called
'Church of Accompaniment'."
Edward Feser, philosopher:
"Schism and heresy are both grave sins. But as Aquinas teaches, heresy
is worse than schism, for whereas schism attacks ecclesiastical unity,
heresy attacks divinely revealed truth and thus more directly offends
against God himself. Yet what we find in the Church today is that while
schism is (rightly) still punished, heresy is allowed to run rampant.
This disorder reflects a deeper one, namely a tendency to emphasize the
second great commandment (love of neighbor) over the first great
commandment (love of God). And since God is the ultimate good for our
neighbor, this inversion of the right order of things actually hurts our
neighbor rather than helps him. Schismatics who are excommunicated may
be moved thereby to repent. But heretics who remained unpunished are
likely to become hardened in their heresy and thus are in graver danger
of damnation."
Michael Humpherys, publicist:
"Schismatics who see the treatment of heretics may be all the more
recalcitrant and fail to repent precisely because of the unpunished
heresy that lead to their schism."
Peter Kwasniewski, philosopher:
"I am waiting for the announcement that the Vatican has excommunicated
German bishops for pushing ahead with the Synodal Way, and President
Biden for aggressively promoting abortion-on-demand across the world."
Eric Sammons, CrisisMagazine.com:
"I’ve found that most traditional Catholics are sympathetic to Viganò
but don’t support his more extreme views. Most will likely look on his
excommunication with sadness while not following him into sedevacantism.
His excommunication will just deepen their distrust of a Vatican that
is persecuting them while letting heretics roam free."
And: "Very
unpopular opinion among Catholics in my milieu: I think Archbishop
Viganò deserved excommunication. Very unpopular opinion among Catholics
outside my milieu: I think many, many other hierarchs and priests should
have been excommunicated before Viganò."
John Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews.com:
"Francis’ Vatican has declared Archbishop Viganò excommunicated, while
Francis was personally involved in undoing the excommunication of
notorious sex abuser priest, Father Marko Rupnik."
LifeSiteNews.com
started a petition praying for Archbishop Viganò. It supports
Archbishop Viganò and his many "courageous public statements". It also
notes 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.
Francis in March 2016: "No one can be excluded from the mercy of God. The Church is the house where everyone is welcomed and no one is rejected."
Thomas Carr, publisher:
"For the record, Francis has excommunicated 17 people during his
pontificate (16 if we count the mercy given to Rupnik). I'm not sure,
but this may be a historical record number. [Full list below]."
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