On the Feast of the North American Martyrs
To bear witness to corruption in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church
was a painful decision for me, and remains so. But I am an old man, one
who knows he must soon give an accounting to the Judge for his actions
and omissions, one who fears Him who can cast body and soul into hell. A
Judge who, even in his infinite mercy, will render to every person
salvation or damnation according to what he has deserved. Anticipating
the dreadful question from that Judge -
- "How could you, who had
knowledge of the truth, keep silent in the midst of falsehood and
depravity?" -- what answer could I give?
I testified fully aware that my testimony would bring alarm and dismay
to many eminent persons: churchmen, fellow bishops, colleagues with
whom I had worked and prayed. I knew many would feel wounded and
betrayed. I expected that some would in their turn assail me and my
motives. Most painful of all, I knew that many of the innocent faithful
would be confused and disconcerted by the spectacle of a bishop's
charging colleagues and superiors with malfeasance, sexual sin, and
grave neglect of duty. Yet I believe that my continued silence would put
many souls at risk, and would certainly damn my own. Having reported
multiple times to my superiors, and even to the pope, the aberrant
behavior of Theodore McCarrick, I could have publicly denounced the
truths of which I was aware earlier. If I have some responsibility in
this delay, I repent for that. This delay was due to the gravity of the
decision I was going to take, and to the long travail of my conscience.
I have been accused of creating confusion and division in the Church
through my testimony. To those who believe such confusion and division
were negligible prior to August 2018, perhaps such a claim is plausible.
Most impartial observers, however, will have been aware of a
longstanding excess of both, as is inevitable
when the successor of
Peter is negligent in exercising his principal mission, which is to
confirm the brothers in the faith and in sound moral doctrine. When he
then exacerbates the crisis by contradictory or perplexing statements
about these doctrines, the confusion is worsened.
Therefore I spoke. For it is the conspiracy of silence that has wrought
and continues to wreak great harm in the Church -- harm to so many
innocent souls, to young priestly vocations, to the faithful at large.
With regard to my decision, which I have taken in conscience before God,
I willingly accept every fraternal correction, advice, recommendation,
and invitation to progress in my life of faith and love for Christ, the
Church and the pope.
Let me restate the key points of my testimony.
In November 2000 the U.S. nuncio Archbishop Montalvo informed the Holy
See of Cardinal McCarrick's homosexual behavior with seminarians and
priests.
In December 2006 the new U.S. nuncio, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, informed
the Holy See of Cardinal McCarrick's homosexual behavior with yet
another priest.
In December of 2006 I myself wrote a memo to the Secretary of State
Cardinal Bertone, and personally delivered it to the Substitute for
General Affairs, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, calling for the pope to
bring extraordinary disciplinary measures against McCarrick to forestall
future crimes and scandal. This memo received no response.
In April 2008 an open letter to Pope Benedict by Richard Sipe was
relayed by the Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Levada, to the Secretary of
State, Cardinal Bertone, containing further accusations of McCarrick's
sleeping with seminarians and priests. I received this a month later,
and in May 2008 I myself delivered a second memo to the then Substitute
for General Affairs, Archbishop Fernando Filoni, reporting the claims
against McCarrick and calling for sanctions against him. This second
memo also received no response.
In 2009 or 2010 I learned from Cardinal Re, prefect of the Congregation
of Bishops, that Pope Benedict had ordered McCarrick to cease public
ministry and begin a life of prayer and penance. The nuncio Sambi
communicated the Pope's orders to McCarrick in a voice heard down the
corridor of the nunciature.
In November 2011 Cardinal Ouellet, the new Prefect of Bishops, repeated
to me, the new nuncio to the U.S., the Pope's restrictions on McCarrick,
and I myself communicated them to McCarrick face-to-face.
On June 21, 2013, toward the end of an official assembly of nuncios at
the Vatican, Pope Francis spoke cryptic words to me criticizing the U.S.
episcopacy.
On June 23, 2013, I met Pope Francis face-to-face in his apartment to ask for clarification, and the Pope asked me, "il cardinale McCarrick, com'è (Cardinal McCarrick -- what do you make of
him)?"-- which I can only interpret as a feigning of curiosity in order
to discover whether or not I was an ally of McCarrick. I told him that
McCarrick had sexually corrupted generations of priests and seminarians,
and had been ordered by Pope Benedict to confine himself to a life of
prayer and penance.
Instead, McCarrick continued to enjoy the special regard of Pope Francis and was given new responsibilities and missions by him.
McCarrick was part of a network of bishops promoting homosexuality who,
exploiting their favor with Pope Francis, manipulated episcopal
appointments so as to protect themselves from justice and to strengthen
the homosexual network in the hierarchy and in the Church at large.
Pope Francis himself has either colluded in this corruption, or, knowing
what he does, is gravely negligent in failing to oppose it and uproot
it.
I invoked God as my witness to the truth of my claims, and none has been
shown false. Cardinal Ouellet has written to rebuke me for my temerity
in breaking silence and leveling such grave accusations against my
brothers and superiors, but in truth his remonstrance confirms me in my
decision and, even more, serves to vindicate my claims, severally and as
a whole.
Cardinal Ouellet concedes that he spoke with me about McCarrick's
situation prior to my leaving for Washington to begin my post as nuncio.
Cardinal Ouellet concedes that he communicated to me in writing the
conditions and restrictions imposed on McCarrick by Pope Benedict.
Cardinal Ouellet concedes that these restrictions forbade McCarrick to travel or to make public appearances.
Cardinal Ouellet concedes that the Congregation of Bishops, in writing,
first through the nuncio Sambi and then once again through me, required
McCarrick to lead a life of prayer and penance.
What does Cardinal Ouellet dispute?
Cardinal Ouellet disputes the possibility that Pope Francis could have
taken in important information about McCarrick on a day when he met
scores of nuncios and gave each only a few moments of conversation. But
this was not my testimony. My testimony is that at a second, private
meeting, I informed the Pope, answering his own question about Theodore
McCarrick, then Cardinal archbishop emeritus of Washington, prominent
figure of the Church in the US, telling the Pope that McCarrick had
sexually corrupted his own seminarians and priests. No pope could
forget that.
Cardinal Ouellet disputes the existence in his archives of letters
signed by Pope Benedict or Pope Francis regarding sanctions on
McCarrick. But this was not my testimony. My testimony was that he has
in his archives key documents – irrespective of provenance –
incriminating McCarrick and documenting the measures taken in his
regard, and other proofs on the cover-up regarding his situation. And I
confirm this again.
Cardinal Ouellet disputes the existence in the files of his predecessor,
Cardinal Re, of "audience memos" imposing on McCarrick the restrictions
already mentioned. But this was not my testimony. My testimony is that
there are other documents: for instance, a note from Card Re not
ex-Audientia SS.mi, signed by either the Secretary of State or by the Substitute.
Cardinal Ouellet disputes that it is false to present the measures taken
against McCarrick as "sanctions" decreed by Pope Benedict and canceled
by Pope Francis. True. They were not technically "sanctions" but
provisions, "conditions and restrictions." To quibble whether they were
sanctions or provisions or something else is pure legalism. From a
pastoral point of view they are exactly the same thing.
In brief, Cardinal Ouellet concedes the important claims that I did and
do make, and disputes claims I don’t make and never made.
There is one point on which I must absolutely refute what Cardinal
Ouellet wrote. The Cardinal states that the Holy See was only aware of
"rumors," which were not enough to justify disciplinary measures against
McCarrick. I affirm to the contrary that the Holy See was aware of a
variety of concrete facts, and is in possession of documentary proof,
and that the responsible persons nevertheless chose not to intervene or
were prevented from doing so. Compensation by the Archdiocese of Newark
and the Diocese of Metuchen to the victims of McCarrick’s sexual abuse,
the letters of Fr. Ramsey, of the nuncios Montalvo in 2000 and Sambi in
2006, of Dr. Sipe in 2008,
my two notes to the superiors of the
Secretariat of State who described in detail the concrete allegations
against McCarrick; are all these just rumors? They are official
correspondence, not gossip from the sacristy. The crimes reported were
very serious, including those of attempting to give sacramental
absolution to accomplices in perverse acts, with subsequent sacrilegious
celebration of Mass. These documents specify the identity of the
perpetrators and their protectors, and the chronological sequence of the
facts. They are kept in the appropriate archives; no extraordinary
investigation is needed to recover them.
In the public remonstrances directed at me I have noted two omissions,
two dramatic silences. The first silence regards the plight of the
victims. The second regards the underlying reason why there are so many
victims, namely, the corrupting influence of homosexuality in the
priesthood and in the hierarchy. As to the first, it is dismaying that,
amid all the scandals and indignation, so little thought should be given
to those damaged by the sexual predations of those commissioned as
ministers of the gospel. This is not a matter of settling scores or
sulking over the vicissitudes of ecclesiastical careers.
It is not a
matter of politics. It is not a matter of how church historians may
evaluate this or that papacy. This is about souls. Many souls have been
and are even now imperiled of their eternal salvation.
As to the second silence, this very grave crisis cannot be properly
addressed and resolved unless and until we call things by their true
names.
This is a crisis due to the scourge of homosexuality, in its
agents, in its motives, in its resistance to reform.
It is no
exaggeration to say that homosexuality has become a plague in the
clergy, and it can only be eradicated with spiritual weapons.
It is an
enormous hypocrisy to condemn the abuse, claim to weep for the victims,
and yet refuse to denounce the root cause of so much sexual abuse:
homosexuality. It is hypocrisy to refuse to acknowledge that this
scourge is due to a serious crisis in the spiritual life of the clergy
and to fail to take the steps necessary to remedy it.
Unquestionably there exist philandering clergy, and unquestionably they
too damage their own souls, the souls of those whom they corrupt, and
the Church at large. But these violations of priestly celibacy are
usually confined to the individuals immediately involved. Philandering
clergy usually do not recruit other philanderers, nor work to promote
them, nor cover-up their misdeeds --
whereas the evidence for homosexual
collusion, with its deep roots that are so difficult to eradicate, is
overwhelming.
It is well established that homosexual predators exploit clerical
privilege to their advantage. But to claim the crisis itself to be
clericalism is pure sophistry. It is to pretend that a means, an
instrument, is in fact the main motive.
Denouncing homosexual corruption and the moral cowardice that allows it
to flourish does not meet with congratulation in our times, not even in
the highest spheres of the Church. I am not surprised that in calling
attention to these plagues I am charged with disloyalty to the Holy
Father and with fomenting
an open and scandalous rebellion. Yet rebellion would entail urging others to topple the papacy. I am
urging no such thing
. I pray every day for Pope Francis -- more than I
have ever done for the other popes. I am asking, indeed earnestly
begging, the Holy Father to face up to the commitments he himself made
in assuming his office as successor of Peter. He took upon himself the
mission of confirming his brothers and guiding all souls in following
Christ, in the spiritual combat, along the way of the cross.
Let him
admit his errors, repent, show his willingness to follow the mandate
given to Peter and, once converted let him confirm his brothers (Lk
22:32).
In closing, I wish to repeat my appeal to my brother bishops and priests
who know that my statements are true and who can so testify, or who
have access to documents that can put the matter beyond doubt.
You too
are faced with a choice. You can choose to withdraw from the battle, to
prop up the conspiracy of silence and avert your eyes from the
spreading of corruption. You can make excuses, compromises and
justification that put off the day of reckoning. You can console
yourselves with the falsehood and the delusion that it will be easier to
tell the truth tomorrow, and then the following day, and so on.
On the other hand, you can choose to speak. You can trust Him who told
us, "the truth will set you free." I do not say it will be easy to
decide between silence and speaking.
I urge you to consider which
choice-- on your deathbed, and then before the just Judge -- you will
not regret having made.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò 19 October 2018
Titular Archbishop of
Ulpiana
Feast of the North
Apostolic Nunci American Martyrs
