In the interview, published by Il Messaggero on Wednesday morning, Viganò was asked, “You have accused Pope Francis of having ignored the rumors relating to the homosexuality and abuse of minors by Cardinal McCarrick, who was later convicted of pedophilia, reduced to the lay state, and expelled from the College of Cardinals. The Vatican only took action in 2017 after an accusation that was considered credible. Why didn’t it act earlier? What concrete evidence was there?”
In response, Viganò answered, “As Delegate for the Pontifical Representations, I dealt with the McCarrick case myself, and since then I have asked for his dismissal from the Cardinalate.”
“My direct superiors are responsible for not having taken due account of my judgment based on incontrovertible testimony,” Viganò alleged. “Obviously, McCarrick’s work was convenient for someone in the Secretariat of State, starting with the huge sums raised through the Papal Foundation that the Cardinal had set up in the United States.”
“I remember well a comment made to me by the Argentine Leonardo Sandri, then a Monsignor with whom I shared the same office for eleven years when we were both secretaries of the Substitute: ‘But this McCarrick is always here!'” Viganò continued. “Sandri later became the Substitute, and it was precisely to him that I delivered my Note detailing McCarrick’s misconduct, but ambition and the prospects of advancing his career led him to keep quiet and cover up the scandals.”
Viganò then stated that Francis “owes his ‘election’ to McCarrick: McCarrick himself declared this during a conference at Villanova University where on October 11, 2013 he affirmed that he had favored the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio during the General Congregations prior to the Conclave held a few months earlier, and that he had spoken about it with ‘a very influential Italian gentleman’ (here) who supposedly confided to him how in the space of a five-year period the new Pope would ‘reform’ – that is, revolutionize – the Church.”
Viganò also claimed to the outlet that the reason Francis laicized McCarrick in February 2019 was because “the scandal was no longer manageable, despite the fact that McCarrick’s crimes had been known for decades.”
“The
paradox arose with the publication on November 10, 2020, of a
substantial Report on McCarrick drawn up by Attorney Jeffrey Lena and
costing the Holy See millions, in which he falsely goes so far as to say
that I was the one responsible for the failure to timely initiate
canonical proceedings against McCarrick (here),” Viganò concluded.