Arcivescovo Carlo Maria Viganò@CarloMVigano
AURES HABENT ET NON AUDIUNT
“I listen to everyone!”
youtu.be/ok0eZ2L7xqM
I would have expected Leo, following the example of the Good Shepherd, to come looking for the lost sheep and bring it back to the fold from which his predecessor had expelled it. This did not happen.
Although I am convinced that my “excommunication” is an unjust and evil action that for this reason had not actual juridical effect, I cannot help but point out that it constitutes, for those who inflicted it on me, a sort of aquae et ignis interdictio, the penalty in ancient Roman law equivalent to a form of perpetual exile, which required the condemned person to abandon Roman territory, with a prohibition against anyone providing him with water, fire, or any form of assistance, including hospitality or shelter, under penalty of severe punishment. In practice, this made the condemned an outlaw, depriving him of the essentials of survival and isolating him from society. And so, in defiance of the fine words about welcome and inclusiveness, I see myself condemned to a “spiritual death penalty,” deprived of the Sacraments and supposedly destined for eternal damnation. For Bergoglio and Prevost, capital punishment, which kills only the body, would be inadmissible, but excommunication, which kills the soul and condemns it to eternal death, is permissible.
For this reason, wanting to leave no stone unturned, I felt it my duty to write to Leo and request an audience. Here is the chronology of the entire affair:
- On June 4, 2025, I sent a personal letter of extremely sensitive content via the Vatican Post, in which I also requested an audience.
- On August 28, 2025, having received no response to my previous letter, I resubmitted my request to be received in a private audience with Leo, through the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, by sending an email to the Regent, Msgr. Leonardo Sapienza.
- On September 20, 2025, I received a reply from Msgr. Sapienza, confirming that the audience had been granted, and that it was scheduled for December 11, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at the Library of the Apostolic Palace.
- On December 9, 2025, at 8:08 a.m., two days before the meeting, Msgr. Sapienza informed me by an email that the audience had been canceled.
- However, less than two hours later, at 9:53 a.m., the Secretariat of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household forwarded me the ticket for the audience.
- Shortly thereafter, at 10:14 a.m., the same Secretariat informed me that the audience had been canceled.
- Following these contradictory communications, I called Msgr. Sapienza to understand the reason for the cancellation. Ostensibly embarrassed, he offered unbelievable excuses but assured me that he would communicate a new date as soon as possible, quoting Leo’s words: “We have to reschedule the audience: I listen to everyone!”
1/2
