Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former nuncio to the United States, has been excommunicated after being found guilty of schism, the Vatican said.

The former U.S. papal nuncio claimed that lockdown restrictions and unrest in the United States were part of a plot to establish a new world order.

In a published report May 28, 2019, Pope Francis denied Archbishop Vigano’s claims that the pontiff and other church officials failed to act on accusation of abuse of conscience and power by former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick.

Pope Benedict XVI had imposed restrictions on the public ministry of former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick in 2008, but they were not formal sanctions and were not followed strictly, even during the papacy of Pope Benedict himself, McCarrick’s former secretary said.

The book, titled “Il Giorno del Giudizio” (“Judgment Day”), was released Nov. 6 and reconstructs the events leading to Archbishop McCarrick’s rise in the hierarchy while countering claims made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former nuncio to the United States.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, addresses Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano with an open letter on the forefront of the examination of the facts and of the circumstances around former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick.

Promising a thorough review of how the Vatican handled allegations of sexual misconduct by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Vatican acknowledged that what happened may fall short of the procedures that are in place today.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former nuncio to the United States who accused Pope Francis and church officials of failing to act on accusations of sexual abuse, urged a top Vatican official to release documents that would prove his allegations.