Background
Update — October 7, 2026
- On 28 September Viganò posted on X a critique of Leo XIV's 25 September address at the Élysée Palace, which LifeSiteNews republished under a headline saying the Pope promotes the "exact opposite of the Magisterium"; he objected to the speech's favourable references to Enlightenment-era thinkers and its treatment of France's republican motto (LifeSiteNews; vatican.va; timeline). No change in his canonical status had been reported as of 7 October.
Overview
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Holy See's apostolic nuncio to the United States from 2011 to 2016 and titular archbishop of Ulpiana, moved in six years from accusing Pope Francis of mishandling the case of Theodore McCarrick to rejecting both the pope's authority and the Second Vatican Council. On 5 July 2024 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) announced that an extrajudicial penal process had found him guilty of the delict of schism and declared that he had incurred an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication (DDF communiqué; Holy See Press Office bulletin). See the profile of Carlo Maria Viganò.
The 2018 "testimony"
Late on 25 August 2018, as Pope Francis began the second day of a visit to Ireland, two conservative U.S. Catholic websites published an 11-page written statement by Viganò, NPR reported. He alleged that Benedict XVI had placed restrictions on then-Cardinal McCarrick around 2009 or 2010, that he personally told Francis about McCarrick's conduct in June 2013, and that those restrictions were later set aside; he called on Francis to resign. Viganò confirmed to The Washington Post that he had written the text but declined further comment. On the flight home, Francis said he had read it and would not respond in detail, leaving journalists to judge it for themselves (NPR).
Questions were raised immediately. America noted that it was unclear whether Benedict had actually removed McCarrick from public ministry, since McCarrick continued to perform clerical duties in those years, and that the statement did not claim Francis knew of allegations that McCarrick had abused minors.
The McCarrick Report (November 2020)
The Holy See's report on McCarrick, released in November 2020, mentioned Viganò hundreds of times. According to the National Catholic Reporter, it disputed his description of Benedict-era "sanctions", cited numerous instances of McCarrick keeping Viganò informed of his travels and public engagements while Viganò was nuncio, and said that when Cardinal Marc Ouellet asked Viganò in 2012 to assess whether allegations in a cleric's lawsuit against McCarrick were credible, Viganò did not take those steps. In an EWTN interview with Raymond Arroyo, Viganò denied the report's accusations and said investigators had never sought his account (Catholic World Report).
2020: the Council, the "deep church" and the Great Reset
In an essay dated 9 June 2020, Viganò responded to a 1 June essay by Bishop Athanasius Schneider on religious freedom and religious diversity, but went further than Schneider by treating the Council itself as the source of later deviations. The Vatican commentator Sandro Magister wrote that a wholesale rejection of the Council was at the brink of schism, if not beyond it (NCR); in reply, Viganò defended the idea that the Council should be set aside and forgotten (InfoVaticana). Schneider, by contrast, proposed formally correcting specific passages rather than setting the Council aside. On 9 July 2020 about 50 priests, academics and journalists signed a letter thanking both prelates for calling for a debate on Vatican II, and FSSPX.News later reported more than 1,100 further signatories (FSSPX.News). Viganò also explained his views in an interview with The Catholic Thing.
The same month he addressed an open letter, dated 7 June and published by LifeSiteNews, to President Donald Trump. It framed the COVID-19 pandemic and the unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd as part of a spiritual struggle between good and evil, identified the opposing side with a "deep state", and described a parallel "deep church" inside Catholicism. Trump praised the letter on Twitter on 10 June (NCR; Catholic World Report). A second open letter, dated 25 October 2020, presented the World Economic Forum's "Great Reset" as a plan by a global elite to subdue humanity through coercive measures. The Anti-Defamation League has described that letter as foundational to the "Great Reset" conspiracy theory; The Remnant published it under the headline Viganò on the Great Reset. For the wider theme, see Freemasonry and conspiracy claims.
The 2024 penal process
According to Avvenire and The Pillar, the DDF's congress decided on 10 May 2024 to open an extrajudicial process, judging a preliminary investigation unnecessary. A decree dated 11 June summoned Viganò to appear on 20 June. As reported by Catholic News Agency, it charged him with public statements denying elements necessary for communion with the Church: denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis, breaking communion with him, and rejection of the Second Vatican Council. He was told he could be represented by counsel and that, without an appearance or written defence by 28 June, he would be judged in his absence.
On 20 June Viganò published the decree on X and said he regarded the accusation as an honour (CNA). In a statement first released through LifeSiteNews, he said he did not recognise the authority of the dicastery, of its prefect, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, or of the pope who appointed him (NCR). He did not appear, and on 28 June, the deadline, he issued a long further statement instead (Inside the Vatican).
The congress met on 4 July to conclude the case. The DDF communiqué of 5 July said his public positions showed a refusal to recognise and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, a rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to him, and a rejection of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council. It found him guilty of the reserved delict of schism under canons 751 and 1364 of the Code of Canon Law, declared the latae sententiae excommunication under canon 1364 §1, stated that lifting the censure is reserved to the Apostolic See, and said the decision was communicated to him on 5 July (DDF; Vatican News). The Pillar noted that the dicastery did not dismiss him from the clerical state, although canon law would have allowed it.
What the declaration means
An extrajudicial penal process is administrative: Avvenire explained that it is quicker and offers the accused fewer procedural guarantees, though he retains the right of defence. A latae sententiae penalty is incurred by the act itself; the DDF's role was to establish the offence and declare the penalty. Catholic Answers apologist Jimmy Akin made this point, arguing that the Vatican ruled that Viganò had excommunicated himself rather than imposing a new sanction. The Tablet summarised the practical effect: excommunication is the gravest penalty the Church imposes on a baptised person and bars access to the sacraments.
Reactions in traditionalist and conservative media
Coverage across traditionalist outlets was prompt. The Remnant reported the summons as breaking news; LifeSiteNews distributed Viganò's June statement; Inside the Vatican published his 28 June statement. FSSPX.News, the news service of the Society of Saint Pius X, reported the verdict and noted that he had been convicted in his absence. Bishop Athanasius Schneider, who had engaged with Viganò's critique of the Council in 2020, argued publicly that excommunicating him would be imprudent (Gloria Dei). Commentary in mainstream Catholic media had questioned his course earlier: in 2020 a National Catholic Reporter column asked who still stood with him.
Since 2024
In March 2026 Viganò posted what he said were Vatican letters first confirming and then cancelling a private audience with Leo XIV planned for 11 December 2025 (InfoVaticana). In June 2026 he published a letter to Leo dated 25 January 2026 in which he denied being a schismatic, questioned the legitimacy of the excommunication and asked for his canonical situation to be reviewed, as reported by InfoVaticana. In July 2026 Integrity Magazine reported that he had endorsed the Society of Saint Pius X's canonical appeal against the July 2026 decree excommunicating its bishops (Integrity Magazine; see SSPX consecrations 2026). No public response from the Holy See to his request, and no change in his canonical status, had been reported in the sources reviewed as of 7 October 2026.
What to watch
Because lifting the censure is reserved to the Apostolic See, any change in Viganò's canonical status would have to come from the Holy See (DDF). Watch for any further Vatican statement, any reconciliation or appeal, and how traditionalist outlets that publish his writings describe his status.