Carlo Maria Viganò – It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Father Joe

Cardinal holding a staff on cracked ground surrounded by swirling figures, broken columns, flying papers with words like Schism and Vatican II, a distorted clock, and a stormy sky.

I had thought the man would remain a faithful son of the Church. I was wrong. Many still give him credit for exposing Cardinal McCarrick. But what happened after that? It is anyone’s guess. I have listed a few items taken from online. It hurts too much for me to add any personal reflections. It surprises me that the Vatican would elevate a man responsible for unauthorized leaks. Truth is important, but so is discretion. Many allegations were made against bishops and popes and others— so much of it a false narrative. He cut his ties to the living Church founded by Christ. Foolish Catholics clamor for his dissent against the Holy See and in placing right-wing politics over the Gospel. I find it all hurtful to my soul. I lament the damage that such men have brought to the Church, especially since I saw much hope for healing in his early intervention. But there was much going on behind the scenes that was terminal. There was a lack of respect— a lack of obedience— and a lack of charity. God save us!

Viganò spread numerous COVID-19 conspiracy theories in 2020, saying that populists and other conspiracy theorists wanted containment of the pandemic to establish a hate-filled technocratic tyranny and wipe out Christian civilization.

In June 2020 he wrote a letter to President Donald Trump, wherein he made “apocalyptic claims about a looming spiritual battle and a globalist conspiracy pursuing a one-world government.”

In a July 2020 interview, Viganò accused Pope Francis of following the “homosexual agenda of the New World Order.”

He has rejected the Second Vatican Council and the Mass of Paul VI. In June 2020, Viganò said that the Second Vatican Council ushered in a schism where a false church exists within the Catholic Church alongside what he considers to be the true Church. According to Viganò, the Council aimed to create the doctrinal premises to revolutionize the Catholic Church, making the Catholic Mass much more like Protestantism and trying to secularize Catholicism.

Viganò criticized the inter-religious activities of Pope John Paul II and especially of Pope Francis, seeking to link actions undertaken during their pontificates to what he perceived to be errors or ambiguities in the council.

He repudiated Dignitatis humanae (Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom).

He repudiated Nostra aetate (Vatican II’s Declaration on Non-Christian Religions).

In November 2020, he denounced the Mass of Paul VI as a “liturgical rite that seems to have been invented by Cranmer’s perverse mind.” By January 2022 he announced that he was exclusively celebrating the Tridentine Latin Mass.

Viganò described Pope Francis as a “false prophet” and a “servant of Satan.”

Viganò has been a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In early March 2022, Viganò released a 10,000-word manifesto in which he pushed Russian disinformation. He adopted Putin’s justifications for attacking Ukraine, blamed neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine for the conflict, and asserted that the United States and Europe should “form an alliance” with Russia.

He announced plans in December 2023 to establish a “traditionalist” seminary outside of the Church’s jurisdiction.

In 2024, he was charged with schism and, after refusing to appear at a trial, was declared guilty and excommunicated. In April 26 it was announced that he had joined Trump in slamming Pope Leo XIV.

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA