Published Jun 20, 2024
By Andrew Stanton
Weekend Staff Writer
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a leading critic of Pope Francis, on Thursday, said he is being tried for "schism".
Viganò is an Italian clergyman who has increasingly found himself at odds with Pope Francis over the direction of the Catholic Church in recent years, previously calling for the pope's arrest. He has become a popular figure among some U.S. conservatives due to his support for former President Donald Trump and opposition to the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in the church, as Pope Francis has sought to make the church more inclusive.
Pope Francis has been viewed as more liberal on some social issues than his predecessors and faced criticism from more conservative Catholics over his public comments supporting priests blessing same-sex couples, support for immigrants and efforts to combat climate change.
On Thursday, Viganò wrote that he is being tried for schism. He was summoned to the Palace of the Holy Office either in person or represented by a lawyer, according to a letter he uploaded online that appeared to notify him of the summons. The letter included a signature from John Joseph Kennedy, a secretary of the disciplinary section.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò speaks in Chicago, Illinois, on November 18, 2014. Viganò, a critic of Pope Francis, said the Vatican is putting him on trial for alleged “schism.” CHARLES REX ARBOGAST-POOL/GETTY IMAGES
Schism is defined as a formal division in or separation from a church or religious body. According to that letter, he has been charged with denying the legitimacy of Pope Francis, having broken communion with him and rejecting the Second Vatican Council.
In an open letter that Viganò penned about the trial, he described it as an "extrajudicial process."
The Vatican has not confirmed that Viganò is being tried or commented on his accusations. Newsweek reached out to the Vatican and Viganò for comment via email.
He said he views the accusations against him as an "honor" in the letter posted to his website, in which he struck a defiant tone against Pope Francis' leadership. He said the charges confirm "the theses that I have repeatedly defended in my various addresses."
Schism is defined as a formal division in or separation from a church or religious body. According to that letter, he has been charged with denying the legitimacy of Pope Francis, having broken communion with him and rejecting the Second Vatican Council.
In an open letter that Viganò penned about the trial, he described it as an "extrajudicial process."
The Vatican has not confirmed that Viganò is being tried or commented on his accusations. Newsweek reached out to the Vatican and Viganò for comment via email.
He said he views the accusations against him as an "honor" in the letter posted to his website, in which he struck a defiant tone against Pope Francis' leadership. He said the charges confirm "the theses that I have repeatedly defended in my various addresses."
"No Catholic worthy of the name can be in communion with this 'Bergoglian church,' because it acts in clear discontinuity and rupture with all the Popes of history and with the Church of Christ," he wrote.
He wrote that he believes Catholics must question whether "it is consistent with the profession of the Catholic Faith to passively witness the systematic destruction of the Church by its leaders, just as other subversives are destroying civil society."
Pope Francis "goes beyond his role in matters that strictly pertain to science, he wrote.
"But always and only in one direction: a direction that is diametrically opposed to what the Church has always taught," he wrote.
In January, Viganò said Pope Francis should be arrested over a controversy surrounding a book written by a cardinal about sexuality in 1998. In 2020, he called for a "mass exorcism" over the COVID-19 pandemic. He opposed shutting down church services to prevent the spread of the virus.
The archbishop previously served as a Vatican ambassador to the U.S. for five years; he was appointed as Apostolic Nuncio in 2011 and remained in post until his retirement in 2016.
Defendant in Vatican trial tells UN the pope violated his rights with surveillance
Pope Francis leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Nicole Winfield
The Associated Press
Staff
Contact
Published June 19, 2024
NEW YORK -
One of the defendants in the Vatican's big financial trial has formally complained to the United Nations that Pope Francis violated his human rights by authorizing wide-ranging surveillance during the investigation.
A lawyer for Raffaele Mincione, a London-based financier, submitted a complaint last week to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights via a special procedure that allows individuals or groups to provide the UN with information about alleged rights violations in countries or institutions.
The filing marks the latest and highest-profile complaint about the Vatican trial, highlighting the peculiarity of the Vatican's criminal justice system and its seeming incompatibility with European and democratic norms. The Vatican is an absolute monarchy where the pope wields supreme legislative, executive and judicial power.
The trial, which opened in 2021 and ended in December, focused on the Holy See's money-losing 350 million euro investment in a London property but also included other tangents. Vatican prosecutors alleged brokers and Vatican officials fleeced the Holy See of tens of millions of euros in fees and commissions, and then extorted the Holy See for 15 million euros (US$16.5 million) to cede control of the property.
The trial ended in December with convictions for nine of the 10 defendants, including Mincione and a once-powerful cardinal, Angelo Becciu. The court's motivations for the sentence still haven't been published, but both Vatican prosecutors and the nine convicted defendants have announced appeals.
Mincione's complaint to the UN focused on the role of the pope during the investigation, an area that was flagged as problematic by defense lawyers during the trial and external experts in its aftermath.
The complaint cited four secret executive decrees Francis signed in 2019 and 2020 that gave Vatican prosecutors wide-ranging powers to investigate, including via unchecked wiretapping and to deviate from existing laws. The decrees only came to light right before trial, were never officially published, provided no rationale or timeframe for the surveillance, or oversight of the wiretapping by an independent judge.
The chief prosecutor argued Francis' decrees provided unspecified "guarantees" for the suspects, and the judges rejected the defense motions at the time that argued they violated the fundamental right to a fair trial. In a somewhat convoluted decision, the judges ruled that no violation of the principle of legality had occurred since Francis had made the laws.
Mincione's complaint also alleged the tribunal is not independent or impartial, a claim the Vatican has rejected previously. Francis can hire and fire judges and prosecutors, and recently decided such things as their compensation, pension and term limits.
It is not clear what, if anything, the UN will do with the complaint. The Geneva-based office fields special rapporteurs, or experts, to monitor specific areas of human rights, including the judiciary and independence of judges and lawyers.
Previous complaints to the UN human rights office about the Vatican or Catholic Church, in the areas of child sexual abuse and LGBTQ2S+ discrimination, resulted in letters from the UN special rapporteur to the Vatican's UN ambassador in Geneva listing problems and requesting responses and changes.
Mincione has also tried to engage the Council of Europe on the matter, given the Holy See is subject to periodic review as part of the COE's Moneyval process to guard against money laundering. In January, a British representative asked if the COE would look into the Vatican's human rights situation given the trial outcome.
The plenary assembly chairman dodged the question.
In ongoing litigation, Mincione has also sued the Vatican secretariat of state in a British court over the reputational harm he says he suffered as a result of the Vatican trial.
Nicole Winfield
The Associated Press
Staff
Contact
Published June 19, 2024
NEW YORK -
One of the defendants in the Vatican's big financial trial has formally complained to the United Nations that Pope Francis violated his human rights by authorizing wide-ranging surveillance during the investigation.
A lawyer for Raffaele Mincione, a London-based financier, submitted a complaint last week to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights via a special procedure that allows individuals or groups to provide the UN with information about alleged rights violations in countries or institutions.
The filing marks the latest and highest-profile complaint about the Vatican trial, highlighting the peculiarity of the Vatican's criminal justice system and its seeming incompatibility with European and democratic norms. The Vatican is an absolute monarchy where the pope wields supreme legislative, executive and judicial power.
The trial, which opened in 2021 and ended in December, focused on the Holy See's money-losing 350 million euro investment in a London property but also included other tangents. Vatican prosecutors alleged brokers and Vatican officials fleeced the Holy See of tens of millions of euros in fees and commissions, and then extorted the Holy See for 15 million euros (US$16.5 million) to cede control of the property.
The trial ended in December with convictions for nine of the 10 defendants, including Mincione and a once-powerful cardinal, Angelo Becciu. The court's motivations for the sentence still haven't been published, but both Vatican prosecutors and the nine convicted defendants have announced appeals.
Mincione's complaint to the UN focused on the role of the pope during the investigation, an area that was flagged as problematic by defense lawyers during the trial and external experts in its aftermath.
The complaint cited four secret executive decrees Francis signed in 2019 and 2020 that gave Vatican prosecutors wide-ranging powers to investigate, including via unchecked wiretapping and to deviate from existing laws. The decrees only came to light right before trial, were never officially published, provided no rationale or timeframe for the surveillance, or oversight of the wiretapping by an independent judge.
The chief prosecutor argued Francis' decrees provided unspecified "guarantees" for the suspects, and the judges rejected the defense motions at the time that argued they violated the fundamental right to a fair trial. In a somewhat convoluted decision, the judges ruled that no violation of the principle of legality had occurred since Francis had made the laws.
Mincione's complaint also alleged the tribunal is not independent or impartial, a claim the Vatican has rejected previously. Francis can hire and fire judges and prosecutors, and recently decided such things as their compensation, pension and term limits.
It is not clear what, if anything, the UN will do with the complaint. The Geneva-based office fields special rapporteurs, or experts, to monitor specific areas of human rights, including the judiciary and independence of judges and lawyers.
Previous complaints to the UN human rights office about the Vatican or Catholic Church, in the areas of child sexual abuse and LGBTQ2S+ discrimination, resulted in letters from the UN special rapporteur to the Vatican's UN ambassador in Geneva listing problems and requesting responses and changes.
Mincione has also tried to engage the Council of Europe on the matter, given the Holy See is subject to periodic review as part of the COE's Moneyval process to guard against money laundering. In January, a British representative asked if the COE would look into the Vatican's human rights situation given the trial outcome.
The plenary assembly chairman dodged the question.
In ongoing litigation, Mincione has also sued the Vatican secretariat of state in a British court over the reputational harm he says he suffered as a result of the Vatican trial.
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