Viganò, the Catholic Church and the schism of the homophobes
Reflections by Massimo Battaglio
It is singular that now, after the excommunication of Msgr. Viganò and, in fact, his suspension to Divinis, those who are taking the greatest distances are the same that supported him until yesterday.
Fun sites, fanatic groups, conservative confraternities, they are all there to make distinction, to clarify that they agreed but. You can see that the former Holy Office is still scary, especially when it is serious and makes it clear that pulling the rope too much is not a good game.
The background is known to all: Monsignor Viganò, after a series of public pronouncements against Pope Francis and the Curia all in which he came to urge the resignation of the Pope, was invited to dampen the tones. Never lofece.
On the contrary: he went on, disecrating the papal authority and making himself contacted by a schismatic group. From there on, he began to utter real insults against the Church. The last one was the one in which he called Bergoglio "Servo di Satan".
It is clear that such a character is out of the communion of Catholics. And it is obvious that, sooner or later, its departure is recognized by the ecclesiastical court through a excommunication decree. This is what happened today, July 5, 2024, after various references to be emptied and after the invitation to present their defense.
But why should the Viganò case affect Christians LGBT+? Well ... because homosexuality is one of the topics, if not the main one, that the prelate has always pulled out, obsessively, in all its criticisms. So he expressed himself after the promulgation of "confidence supplicans":
“It is a false pastoral care towards adulterers and sodomites. Their fault will not only concern the sins committed but having wanted to believe in a fraud of false shepherds, servants of Satan, starting with the usurper who sits on the spide of Peter ". And then: "What will prevent in the future from blessing polyamors, pedophilia, bestiality of animal love, always in the name of reception?".
Apart from the tones from Savonarola, is there a need to point out to its excellence that, unlike our loves, pedophilia and bestiality are crimes and denotes exactly the inability to love? But the eternal confusion between homosexuality and pedophilia has always been the Trojan horse of Viganò's criticisms of the contemporary Church. Already in 2020 he had written something like that:
“In the Church, on homosexuality, a legitimacy work is underway. To carry on this speech are prelates and theologians ". So far, all right, we would say, except, all this legitimacy, we have not yet seen it. But we arrive: "We want to focus attention on the abuse of minors, deviating it from the contextual clear and necessary condemnation of homosexual behavior".
That is to say: pedophilia is ugly but there is worse. Attention that the load is coming: “Homosexual behaviors that, of these abuses, are often the cause. For Bergoglio and his entourage, sodomy is not a pity that shouts revenge on the Cospeddo of God, as the catechism teaches ".
It could be discussed indefinitely on what the causes of clerical pedophilia are. However, it is all too easy to object that, in a clergy composed largely of homosexual people (not all practitioners, for heaven's sake), there is to expect that a similar share of pedophiles is also. The opposite would be curious.
It would think that homosexuals are more virtuous than others. But here, Viganò seems to want to tread his hand on purpose to make themselves hateful, to let us know that gays suck him.
And it also takes advantage of it to make us known that it also disavow the new catechism. Bring up the "Too bad he shouts revenge in the presence of God", concept completely absent in the 1997 edition. To find that expression, it is necessary to refer to the catechism of S. Pius X, the last approved before the Council II, precisely in 1905. But it goes without saying: if its excellence does not recognize the Council, it is automatic that it does not recognize anything of what its implementation represents. The only post-conciliar thing that Garba is its archbishop's appointment.
But not even the words of 2020 were the first on our topics. Already the year before, on the occasion of the reduction to the secular state of card. McCarrick - convicted not for pedophilia but for other types of sexual abuse - the excommunicated today thus thus:
“Why does the word homosexuality never appear in recent documents of the Holy See? This does not mean at all that most of those who have homosexual inclination are abusiders " Thanks Excellence, how good she is! “But the fact remains that the vast majority of abuse is committed by homosexual clerics against children in post-pubertal age. Why does the Pope still keep and even call people who are notoriously homosexual as his close collaborators? "
Yeah: why? Perhaps because, as we have always supported, does sexual orientation have nothing to do with the pastoral ability of a priest? This, for Viganò, is out of the question. For him, homosexuality is equal to depravation, always. And, since it is convenient for him to demonstrate that Pope Francis surrounds himself with depravades, takes the field like this.
Perhaps, the first time that the high prelate explicitly explicit all his homophobia, it was in August 2018, on the occasion of the famous J'Accuse launched against all Vatican establishment. Even then he spoke of homosexual abuse consumed within the Leonine walls, of "homosexual networks" internal to the Church and the need to "eradicate" them. In this regard, we refer to a beautiful commentary video, of our friend Francesco Lepore, published by gaynews on August 30, 2024.
Of lepore's comments, I allow myself to underline some content on which i particularly agree: "When we talk about sexual abuse, the equation goes directly with pedophilia, although pedophilia is distinct from those abuses that can be committed on adults when in a relationship of authority compared to the victims. Now, the latter cases can occur, in the sense that there are adults on which some high prelate can operate a psychological coercion. But it must always be tested ". In other words: "We should understand the purposes for which a seminarian adults or a presbyter go to bed with a cardinal".
"As usual" lepore Continues, “An attempt to attack LGBT+ people is underway, accusing them of wanting to homosexualize the Church. Well: there is no risk of genre, nor is there the risk of subverting it even the doctrine. There is only a will to start a dialogue, to have a position of respect for homosexual people, who are not, contrary to what Viganò wants to paint, serial predators. As are not even the many homosexual Catholic priests ".
We could go on but, after all, the condemnation to Viganò demonstrates one thing: that the obsession with the doctrine often brings very far from the doctrine. It was born as an obsession with the rules and therefore easily becomes obsession with sex and particularly against homosexuality, and finally it proves to be obsession with everyone. And the obsession against everyone is the opposite of communion with everyone, indispensable to feel part of the people of God. And when there is no communion, indeed, it is denied because everyone becomes enemies, well ... one ends up in non-commodity, that is, in excommunication.
The only positive thing of this story lies in the merciful attitude shown by the Dicastery for the doctrine of faith. In fact, in excommunicating Viganò and in prohibiting him to perform the typical functions of a priest, he did not reduce him to the secular state. Indeed, he specified: "The sense of excommunication is however that of being a medicinal penalty that invites the repentance, so you are always waiting for a return of the person to communion".
When, in 1976, it was a "progressive" priest, The abbot franzoni, who underwent a trial by a "conservative" congregation, pity Looked on another part. and franzoni, even If Not excommunicated, was discharged from the clerical state and had to look for a house and a job. With Viganò we have been more tender.
