Comments on Viganò's Excommunication

 

 

 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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