Calls from Catholic Bishops, organizations, and media outlets for Pope Francis to be investigated are slowly but steadily increasing after the former Vatican ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, released an 11-page affidavit Saturday alleging that Pope Francis turned a blind eye to McCarrick’s behavior.
Archbishop Viganò specifically has claimed that Pope Francis lifted Pope Benedict’s “canonical sanctions” on the disgraced cardinal imposed between 2009-2010 that forbade him from interacting with the public in an official capacity, and further alleged Francis did this despite knowing of the serious allegations against McCarrick.
Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), released a statement Sunday calling for an impartial investigation into the allegations against Pope Francis.
“The recent letter of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò brings particular focus and urgency to this examination,” Cardinal DiNardo wrote in a statement posted Sunday on the USCCB website.
Other Bishops throughout the U.S. soon followed : Bishop Joseph Stickland of Tyler, Texas;Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin; Archbishop Salvatore Cordileno of San Francisco, Califoria; Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Isalndl; Bishop Thomas Olmstead of Phoenix, Arizona; Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Pennsylvana.
All the bishops said the allegations from the former Vatican nuncio to the U.S. needed to be investigated because they were credible.
In addition, Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, who serves as the Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and was formerly the prefect of the Vatican’s Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, said in an interview with local Italian media that Viganò’s calls for Pope Francis’ resignation are “not wrong” and that an investigation into the allegations against the Pope is “necessary.”
So far the Pope has been resolute in his silence.
The weekend is coming up.
Pastors around the country and around the world will be able immediately to survey the impact of Archbishop Vigano’s letter and the defeaning silence of Pope Francis as they take note of the number of empty pews in their churches.
Many, too many, readers of this blogsite have commented (I don’t publish comments but rather refer to them or respond to them directly by way of articles) that they have firmly decided to stop contributing, but with this additional note.
In the wake of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, many had indicated they would continue to contribute to their parishes but not to Bishops’ or diocesan-wide appeals, and certainly not to USCCB national collections.
But since the Archbishop’s letter and Pope Francis’ dismissive attitude, they have decided (several emphatically so) to stop contributing altogether.
Perhaps when the US coffers (from which the Holy See benefits extraordinarily) begin to dry up, the Holy Father may “find his voice” again.
Given the anger which is so apparent in what I have read, it may be too late even then.
We shall see.
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