Fr John Hunwicke: PF must fire Vigano he must 'clean out his own Augean Stables'

Father John Hunwicke | 18 March 2018

Like getting blood out of a stone

Who would have thought that there would be yet another complete paragraph in that letter of Pope emeritus Benedict which Mgr Vigano tried to conceal. A paragraph revealing that Ratzinger, happily, has not become mentally soft and helpless in old age; that he doesn't quite see why he should be kicked around by sniggering enemies, even though he is no longer pope. [Settimo Cielo blog]

He is astonished that he was expected to provide a polite puff for (among others) a theologian who was a noisy and persistent anti-papal nuisance during the last two pontificates.

As well he might be.

I know little about other countries and their political and cultural standards and how they operate. I do know that my own country is far from perfect and that its public life is frequently degraded by people who will get away with whatever they can until they are found out. Sexually, financially ... you name it. But ...

But in my country, an episode like this would, beyond any possibility of doubt, have ended up with a resignation or sacking in a context of public disgrace. Will any of my fellow-countrymen contradict me in my assertion?

Perhaps that will indeed be how this episode will end up. We shall see.

If this man Vigano were to be kept in office, it would be the final detail in the unfolding public demonstration of the moral corruption right at the heart of this failed pontificate. In politics, it is often not the big issues that bring a crisis to its head, but something that starts off by being insignificant to the point of pettiness. During this Bergoglian era, the two major disasters have been the shiftiness, accompanied by unbecoming bluster, in the area of paedophilia and coverups and cronyism; and attempts to get away with perverting the Church's moral teaching by stealth. Those things matter infinitely more than the current silly and minor episode.

But 'Lettergate' provides such a vivid snapshot of dirty little men involved in dirty little plots for thoroughly dirty purposes. Even anti-Ratzinger veterans among the Commentariat like Robert Mickens are saying that Vigano should resign or be sacked. 

If PF cannot be made to understand the need to clean out his own Augean Stables, surely he should be made to go. Not next week, but this week. 

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Code of Canon Law Can. 1391 The following can be punished with a just penalty, according to the gravity of the offence:
1° a person who composes a false public ecclesiastical document, or who changes or conceals a genuine one, or who uses a false or altered one
2° a person who in an ecclesiastical matter uses some other false oraltered document;
3° a person who, in a public ecclesiastical document, asserts something false.

December 2017 Dario Viganò Hires a Rich Company Which Promotes Gay Ideology

Francesco Agnoli, writing for La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, defines Viganò as a "very mundane man, with a lot of unusual associations," reminding us that the prefect nominated Jesuit priest James Martin, widely known for his pro-LGBT activism, as advisor to the Secretariat of Communicatios.

Agnoli also points out that Viganò — the man now holding a powerful position that consolidates what were formerly the roles of several heads of departments — was also responsible for the "Disney-like" display of wildlife on St. Peter's facade on the opening of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015.

Vaticanista Marco Tosatti wrote a piece describing Viganò’s close relationship to LGBT radio icon Pierluigi Diaco (who recently celebrated a highly publicized civil union with his male partner), with whom Viganò has been partnering for daily radio broadcasts, sometimes from inside the museums of Vatican Radio. 

Agnoli also claims that word spread around the Vatican that the nomination of Msgr. Nunzio Galantino as secretary of the Italian Bishops' Conference was  Viganò's. Galantino — known as "the Pope's man" inside the Conference — has a reputation for heterodoxy and is remembered especially for his aversion to pro-family, Catholic groups that lobbied against gay civil unions bill.

Agnoli also mentions newspapers Il Tempo and Il Fatto Quotidiano, which in 2015 revealed that Krzysztof Charamsa (a longtime employee of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who came out as actively gay in 2015) "was about to become a bishop, thanks to his network of relationships, which includes Msgr. Dario Viganò." ChurchMilitant.com