(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò sharply criticized Milan Archbishop Mario Delpini for suppressing his church’s annual Corpus Christi procession of the Holy Eucharist through the city streets.
In a Monday tweet on X, Viganò described the decision as made according to “the flimsiest of pretexts” by which the archdiocese cited traffic congestion and the presence of high numbers of tourists.
In a mocking tone, Viganò referred to these as “insurmountable obstacles to the Eucharistic King’s procession into a world that, now more than ever, should fall to its knees at the feet of the Lord.”
He noted that the procession, which continued “even during the War,” was suppressed in recent years “before the farce of the pandemic” and now the difficulty of “tourism.”
Viganò contrasted this cancellation with the Archdiocese’s broader policies, accusing Delpini of denying public honors to the Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament while the steps of the city’s famous Duomo have “turned into an open-air mosque” while migrants have transformed Milan into what he called a “bivouac of mostly Muslim hordes.”
In calling out the Archdiocese of Milan for prioritizing non-essential interreligious experiments over fundamental and necessary Catholic doctrine, devotion and witness, the former apostolic nuncio to the United States also recalled last month’s unveiling of a multi-religion “futuristic monastery.”
“(T)he Diocese of Milan is zealously working with ecumenical enthusiasm toward the construction of a polytheistic temple (the so-called ‘Ambrosian Monastery’),” he said, referring to the new complex in the MIND district presented last month.
The new project includes a church, cloister, Library of Religions, Cloister of Religions, and a “Garden of Religions” representing monotheistic faiths with dedicated plants for each.
LifeSite’s Gaetano Masciullo reported at the time that the “building bears a distinctly Masonic imprint: according to Archbishop Delpini’s own statements, all religions are effectively treated as equally valid paths to worship God.”
“It takes no great insight to see how grotesque and revealing is the behavior of these unworthy Shepherds, for whom every excuse is valid if it allows them to deny divine honors to the Most Holy Sacrament,” Viganò wrote. “They prostrate themselves before Pachamama, but heaven forbid bending the knee — *veneremur cernui* — before the Bread of Angels.”
Making reference to the great father and doctor of the Church St. Ambrose, the Archbishop of Milan who converted St. Augustine in the fourth Century, and his successor St. Charles Borromeo, the great reformer of the 16th Century who is remembered for his implementation of the Council of Trent, Viganò mocked that chair’s current occupant.
“(B)ehold, the Successor of Saints Ambrose and Charles, Mario Delpini, (who) repeats the words with which Simon answered the maid who recognized him as a disciple of the Nazarene: I do not know him (Mk 14:67),” he lamented.
Viganò also went on to seemingly make reference to Delpini’s apparent tolerance or even support for homosexuality (“gay pride”) that was expressed in a pastoral letter he issued before the Synod of Bishops on Synodality in 2023.
In his concluding sentences, he mourned, “Milan: from Ambrose to Montini, from Schuster to Delpini, from Our Lord to Mohammed, from Corpus Domini to gay pride. A betrayal that cries out to Heaven for vengeance.”
The full text of Archbishop Viganò’s social media post can be read below.
Just in these very days, the Archbishop of Milan has suppressed the Corpus Domini procession through the streets of the city, invoking—under the flimsiest of pretexts—the problem of traffic and the presence of tourists as insurmountable obstacles to the Eucharistic King’s procession into a world that, now more than ever, should fall to its knees at the feet of the Lord.
Meanwhile, Milan, along with all the cities of our Old Continent, has been transformed into a bivouac for hordes of mostly Muslim migrants, violent and often criminal; meanwhile, we have seen the very forecourt of Milan’s Duomo turned into an open-air mosque; meanwhile, the Diocese of Milan is zealously working with ecumenical enthusiasm toward the construction of a polytheistic temple (the so-called “Ambrosian Monastery”), behold, the Successor of Saints Ambrose and Charles, Mario Delpini, repeats the words with which Simon answered the maid who recognized him as a disciple of the Nazarene: I do not know him (Mk 14:67).
It takes no great insight to see how grotesque and revealing is the behavior of these unworthy Shepherds, for whom every excuse is valid if it allows them to deny divine honors to the Most Holy Sacrament.
They prostrate themselves before Pachamama, but heaven forbid bending the knee—*veneremur cernui*—before the Bread of Angels.
Delpini suppresses a procession that took place even during the War, but which, before the farce of the pandemic or tourism, must respectfully step aside.
Milan: from Ambrose to Montini, from Schuster to Delpini, from Our Lord to Mohammed, from Corpus Domini to gay pride. A betrayal that cries out to Heaven for vengeance.