Carlo Maria Viganò was born on January 16, 1941. He is an Italian Catholic archbishop who worked as the Vatican’s representative in the United States from 2011 to 2016. He also served as head of the Vatican City government from 2009 to 2011. Viganò became known for revealing financial problems in the Vatican during the 2012 Vatican leaks scandal. In 2018, he wrote a letter accusing Pope Francis and other church leaders of hiding reports of sexual abuse against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. In 2024, the Vatican charged Viganò with schism, a serious act of breaking away from the church. He was found guilty and excommunicated, meaning he was no longer allowed to be part of the Catholic Church.
Viganò became a priest in 1968 and spent most of his career working as a diplomat for the Vatican. Before becoming a bishop in 1992, he worked on several international missions. After being a bishop, he served as the Vatican’s representative in Nigeria for six years before returning to Rome. In 2009, he became head of the Vatican City government, where he improved the Vatican’s finances by turning a budget deficit into a surplus. He reported financial corruption directly to Pope Benedict XVI. His letters, which were published without permission, led to the Vatican leaks scandal, which exposed financial wrongdoing. Because of this, he was moved to the United States in 2011, despite his objections. During his time there, he was seen as a conservative leader and arranged a meeting between Pope Francis and Kim Davis, a government official who opposed same-sex marriage. He denied allegations that he ignored reports of misconduct against Archbishop John Clayton Nienstedt. His role as ambassador ended in 2016.
In August 2018, Viganò published an 11-page letter accusing Pope Francis and other church leaders of hiding reports of sexual misconduct against McCarrick. He claimed Pope Benedict XVI had punished McCarrick for past accusations, but Pope Francis did not enforce the punishment and instead made McCarrick an advisor. Viganò called on Pope Francis to resign. The letter caused mixed reactions within the church, with some supporting the claims and others defending Pope Francis and questioning Viganò’s credibility.
After the letter was published, Viganò continued to make controversial public statements and spread conspiracy theories. He rejected changes made by the Vatican, including the Second Vatican Council and the Mass of Paul VI. In December 2023, he announced plans to create a traditionalist seminary outside the church’s control. In 2024, he was charged with schism and excommunicated after refusing to attend a trial.
Early life and career
Carlo Maria Viganò was born on January 16, 1941, in Varese, Kingdom of Italy. He became a priest on March 24, 1968, when Bishop Carlo Allorio ordained him. He earned a doctor's degree in both church law and civil law.
His nephew, Carlo Maria Polvani, is a priest and serves as an assistant under-secretary at the Pontifical Council for Culture.
Diplomatic career
On April 3, 1992, Viganò was named Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana and the Vatican’s representative to Nigeria by Pope John Paul II.
After completing his work in Nigeria in 1998, Viganò was assigned to the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, where he managed the Vatican’s diplomatic staff and oversaw the Roman Curia. He held this position until he became the secretary general of the Vatican City Governorate on July 16, 2009.
In 2009, Viganò was appointed secretary general of the Vatican City Governorate. In this role, he created centralized accounting systems and ensured responsibility for managing costs. These changes reportedly helped reduce the Vatican City’s budget deficit of $10.5 million to a surplus of $44 million in one year.
In 2010, Viganò suggested that the Vatican should leave the Euro currency to avoid new European banking rules. However, the Vatican decided to stay in the Euro agreement and accept the new regulations. In late January 2012, an Italian television program called Gli intoccabili (The Untouchables) aired, claiming to reveal confidential Vatican letters and memos. Among the documents were letters from Viganò to the Pope and to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, in which he accused Vatican officials of financial corruption and claimed he faced a campaign of defamation. Viganò, who was the second-highest-ranking Vatican administrator at the time, requested not to be transferred after exposing what he called corruption that cost the Vatican millions in higher contract prices.
On February 4, 2012, Giovanni Lajolo, Giuseppe Bertello, Giuseppe Sciacca, and Giorgio Corbellini, officials of the Vatican Governorate, issued a joint statement. They said the unauthorized release of two letters from Archbishop Viganò, one to the Pope and one to the Secretary of State, was deeply troubling. They claimed the allegations in the letters made the Vatican Governorate seem unreliable and accused Viganò of making false claims. They stated that the allegations were based on incorrect information or unfounded fears.
Velasio De Paolis, a former head of the Vatican’s Economic Affairs Prefecture, said he did not believe there was actual corruption but acknowledged the possibility of “instances of a lack of correctness.”
Journalist John L. Allen Jr. suggested that Viganò’s transfer might have been due to personal or political conflicts rather than policy disagreements. He wrote that the situation did not seem to involve Viganò exposing wrongdoing but rather personal disagreements.
On August 13, 2011, Cardinal Bertone informed Viganò that Pope Benedict had appointed him as the Vatican’s representative to the United States. However, Viganò reportedly refused the assignment, stating it was not what Pope Benedict had originally intended. He wrote to the Pope that the appointment would cause confusion and discourage those working to address corruption and waste in the Vatican. A leaked letter from 2012 revealed that Viganò had bypassed Bertone and directly complained to the Pope about Vatican corruption. Bertone then arranged for Viganò to be transferred to Washington, D.C., despite Viganò’s objections.
In February 2012, a Vatican statement signed by some leaders said Viganò’s allegations were “erroneous,” “unfounded,” and based on “groundless fears.”
It was initially reported that Viganò’s brother, Lorenzo Viganò, a Jesuit biblical scholar, claimed his brother had lied about needing to stay in Rome to care for him. Lorenzo reportedly was healthy and living in Chicago, and had not spoken to his brother for two years. However, Viganò’s siblings later disputed these claims.
The Vatican announced Viganò’s appointment as the Vatican’s representative to the United States on October 19, 2011. He became the 14th papal representative to the U.S. since the position was created in 1893 and the fifth to serve as a diplomatic representative since the Vatican established relations with the U.S. in 1984. Viganò welcomed the appointment, calling it an “important, vast, and delicate” task and expressing gratitude to Pope Benedict for entrusting him with the mission.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, said that Viganò’s complaints about corruption and favoritism in Vatican finances showed he understood the challenges within the Vatican.
In 2014, it was alleged that Viganò ordered officials in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to stop an investigation into sexual misconduct by Archbishop John Nienstedt, who was later found not guilty by police. Dan Griffith, who served as the archdiocese’s Delegate for Safe Environment from 2013 to 2014, wrote a memo describing a meeting in April 2014. Griffith’s memo, leaked in 2016, claimed Viganò had ordered the archdiocese’s two auxiliary bishops to halt the investigation and destroy evidence. Local officials announced in March 2014 that they would not charge Nienstedt, who returned to public ministry that day. However, Nienstedt resigned in June 2015 after a Minnesota prosecutor filed criminal charges and a civil lawsuit against the archdiocese for failing to protect children from abuse. After renewed attention to the case following Viganò’s 2018 letter, Viganò denied trying to stop the investigation and provided documents to support his claim. Griffith defended his memo, and Bishop Andrew Cozzens said he and Griffith had initially believed Viganò had ordered the investigation to stop but later clarified that the investigation should continue.
In June 2019, it was reported that Viganò had received substantial monetary gifts from Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of West Virginia, who had resigned after allegations of sexual misconduct. The gifts were later reimbursed by Bransfield’s diocese. Viganò said his staff had told him such gifts were common in the U.S., that he had decided to donate the money to charity, and that he did not know the diocese had reimbursed Bransfield.
On September 24, 2015, during his visit to the United States, Pope Francis met with Kim Davis, a Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. On October 2, Vatican spokesman Thomas Rosica said that Viganò’s office had extended the invitation to Davis.
August 2018 letter
On August 25, 2018, Viganò sent an 11-page letter to the Vatican describing warnings about Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Two months earlier, on June 20, 2018, the Vatican removed McCarrick from public ministry after a review board in the Archdiocese of New York found an allegation that he had sexually abused a 16-year-old altar boy credible and supported by evidence.
In his letter, Viganò said that in 2000, Gabriel Montalvo (then Vatican representative in the United States) told the Vatican about McCarrick’s "serious immoral actions with seminarians and priests." Later, from 2005 to 2011, Pietro Sambi (another Vatican representative) also informed the Vatican about McCarrick. Viganò wrote his own memo about McCarrick in 2006, but nothing was done until Pope Benedict XVI took action.
On July 27, 2018, before the letter was released, Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to live in seclusion, focusing on prayer and penance, and accepted his resignation from the College of Cardinals. This decision was pending the outcome of a church trial.
Viganò claimed he wrote a second memo in 2007 that included information from Richard Sipe, an expert on abuse by clergy. This led Pope Benedict XVI to restrict McCarrick’s movements and public ministry in 2009 or 2010, limiting him to the seminary where he lived and preventing him from celebrating Mass publicly. Viganò said he told Pope Francis about these restrictions in June 2013, but Francis allegedly removed them and made McCarrick "his trusted counselor," despite knowing McCarrick had a history of misconduct.
In his letter, Viganò called for Pope Francis and others who covered up McCarrick’s actions to resign. He wrote that the church must end a "conspiracy of silence" that protected bishops and priests at the expense of their followers, which could make the church appear like a secret group.
In 2019, Pope Francis held a meeting on protecting minors in the church, which led to the release of a document called Vos estis lux mundi, outlining bishops’ responsibilities in handling abuse cases.
Viganò accused three Vatican secretaries of state—Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and Cardinal Pietro Parolin—of knowing about McCarrick’s behavior but taking no action. He also named several high-ranking church officials who allegedly knew about restrictions on McCarrick but did not act. Viganò claimed these officials were aware McCarrick harassed seminarians but did not mention they knew about abuse of minors. He said he discussed McCarrick’s behavior with Cardinal Donald Wuerl and accused him of risking seminarians by allowing McCarrick to live at a seminary after retirement.
Viganò also said McCarrick influenced the appointments of Blase Cupich as Archbishop of Chicago, Joseph Tobin as Archbishop of Newark, and Robert McElroy as Bishop of San Diego.
The New York Times called Viganò’s letter "unsubstantiated" and described it as a public challenge to Pope Francis. The newspaper noted that McCarrick continued to celebrate Mass publicly and participated in events like a 2010 papal ceremony where Wuerl became a cardinal. McCarrick also appeared at the Library of Congress in 2011 and joined other bishops in meetings with Pope Benedict. However, he declined interviews with The Washington Post in 2010, which described his birthday celebrations as "quiet."
Some supporters of Viganò argued that Pope Benedict did not impose formal sanctions on McCarrick but instead made informal requests for him to stay out of the public eye. They pointed to media reports showing McCarrick became more visible after Pope Francis took office. A 2014 article noted that McCarrick was "put back in the mix" after Pope Benedict’s papacy. Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Benedict’s personal secretary, called claims that Benedict confirmed Viganò’s letter "fake news." Cardinal Marc Ouellet later said he knew of informal restrictions on McCarrick but not formal ones.
Journalists reported that McCarrick recommended Cupich and Tobin for their positions, as Viganò claimed. However, other sources said Cupich was on a list of candidates for the Archbishop of Chicago. In 2014, McCarrick tried to help a friend become bishop of Fairbanks, Alaska, but the appointment went to someone else. The Guardian stated that linking Pope Francis to protecting a sexual abuser is false but noted the strong emotions behind the issue.
Viganò said restrictions on McCarrick began in 2009 and 2010, requiring him to leave the seminary where he lived. Two people at a 2008 meeting between Pietro Sambi and McCarrick told Catholic News Agency that Sambi ordered McCarrick to move out of the seminary.
Subsequent activities
In May 2020, National Catholic Reporter reported that some German bishops disagreed with conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic spread by Viganò. They stated that "populists and other conspiracy theorists […] want to interpret all efforts to contain the pandemic as a pretext to found a hate-filled technocratic tyranny and wipe out Christian civilization." Viganò shared a letter he wrote, which he posted on the website Veritas Liberabit Vos. In it, he criticized the restrictions on freedom of worship, expression, and movement during the pandemic, calling them "social engineering" and "subtle forms of dictatorship." He claimed these measures violated "inalienable rights of citizens and their fundamental freedoms" and were a "disturbing prelude to the realization of a world government beyond all control." Viganò questioned the virus's contagiousness, danger, and resistance. He also suggested that "foreign powers" and "shady interests" were interfering in domestic affairs and working to create a "world government."
In a letter dated 7 June 2020, which was published on LifeSiteNews, Viganò made "apocalyptic claims about a looming spiritual battle and a globalist conspiracy pursuing a one-world government," according to Catholic News Agency. He claimed some Catholic bishops supported the New World Order conspiracy and referenced the Masonic "universal brotherhood" as part of this plot. He described the protests and pandemic restrictions as a biblical struggle between light and darkness, urging President Trump to fight the "deep state" in the United States, including responding to the protests. Viganò alleged that the protests were organized by then-President Joe Biden, who represented the goals of the deep state. President Trump responded to the letter in a tweet and encouraged people to read it.
Journalists from Radio Canada, The New York Times, and historian and theologian Massimo Faggioli linked President Trump and Viganò to Viganò's role as Nuncio to the United States from 2011. Faggioli noted that after President Obama's election in 2008, American Catholics increased their influence through alliances with the Tea Party. He said that over the next five years, Viganò "forged close ties" with the "militant fringe" of traditionalist Catholics and gradually embraced conspiracy theories. When Pope Francis became Pope, some U.S. Catholics believed this was part of a globalist plot to liberalize the Church. Faggioli stated that Trump helped popularize these theories, so when Viganò published letters with strong conspiratorial themes from May to October 2020, Trump's "most ardent Catholic supporters" supported his messages.
In a July 2020 interview, Viganò accused Pope Francis of following the "homosexual agenda of the New World Order."
On 30 October 2020, Viganò wrote another letter to President Trump, linking the World Economic Forum's "Great Reset" initiative to the New World Order conspiracy. He claimed the initiative was led by the "global élite" who wanted to "subdue" humanity using "coercive measures" to limit individual freedoms. He said the International Monetary Fund's proposed basic universal income would require people to "renounce private property." He warned that digital IDs, health passports, and Bill Gates' vaccination would become mandatory, with refusal leading to "internment." Viganò claimed the early 2021 lockdowns were part of the Great Reset. He called then-President Trump the "final garrison against the world dictatorship" and described the United States as a "defending wall" in a "war" against globalists, including Pope Francis (whom he called "Jorge Mario Bergoglio"), Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, France's President Emmanuel Macron, and Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Parts of this letter were included in an article by The Spectator columnist James Delingpole, who supports the anti-lockdown conspiracy theory. A Church official said he was "stunned" by the "crude conspiracy theories without facts or evidence" and "right-wing populist rhetoric" used in Viganò's messages. Viganò did not provide proof for his claims, according to Catholic News Agency.
On 23 October 2021, Viganò sent an open letter to then-President of the U.S. Conference of Bishops José Horacio Gómez, citing scientific papers to support his pandemic conspiracy theories. The letter claimed vaccines were authorized without human trials, violating scientific rules. It argued that health authorities ignored low-cost, "proven effective" treatments like hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, and Dr. Giuseppe De Donno's hyperimmune plasma, making expensive monoclonal cell therapy "useless." The letter warned of vaccine-related deaths and long-term harm, stating that passive patient vigilance underestimated adverse effects by 10 times compared to active doctor monitoring. It also claimed graphene in vaccine doses, detected by laboratories, suggested vaccines were used to track vaccinated individuals through "quantum links" to the Internet of Things via microwave frequencies.
On 14 October 2019, the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church, a group split from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, announced they had elected Viganò as their Pope. It is unclear whether Viganò accepted this election.
In June 2020, Viganò claimed the Second Vatican Council caused a schism, creating a "false church" within the Catholic Church alongside what he considers the "true church." He said the Council's errors were "contained in nuce" in its acts and aimed to revolutionize the Church, making the Mass more like Protestantism and secularizing Catholicism. Viganò criticized Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis for interreligious activities, linking them to errors or ambiguities in the Council. He stated, "If the pachamama could be adored in a church, we owe it to Dignitatis humanae [Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Freedom]."
Excommunication
On June 20, 2024, Viganò shared on Twitter that the Disciplinary Section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith had started a religious legal trial against him for schism. He was accused of making public statements that denied key elements needed to remain in communion with the Catholic Church, including rejecting the legitimacy of Pope Francis, breaking communion with him, and opposing the Vatican Council II. Viganò called the charges a "badge of honour" and described the Second Vatican Council as an "ideological, theological, moral, and liturgical cancer," stating that the "Synodal Church" is a "necessary metastasis."
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State, said Viganò had taken actions for which he must answer. He also expressed regret, noting that he had always respected Viganò’s work and faithfulness to the Holy See, especially during his time as an apostolic nuncio. Parolin did not explain what had changed.
Viganò refused to recognize the authority of the Dicastery’s prefect or Pope Francis and declined to participate in the trial. Later, he accused Pope Francis of heresy and schism, claiming the pope had occupied the Chair of Saint Peter unworthily for over 11 years. He again rejected the Second Vatican Council.
On July 5, 2024, the dicastery announced that Viganò had been found guilty of schism and was excommunicated automatically. He kept his title of "archbishop," but excommunication, under canon law, means he cannot hold church positions, celebrate Mass publicly, or administer sacraments. He was not laicized, meaning he did not lose his clerical status.
Viganò is the fourth bishop in the Catholic Church to be excommunicated for schism since Vatican Council II. The others were Ngô Đình Thục (excommunicated in 1976 and again in 1983, later reconciled with the Church), Marcel Lefebvre (1988), and Emmanuel Milingo (2006).
Family estate
On November 15, 2018, it was announced that a civil court in Milan, Italy, had made a decision in October 2018 requiring Viganò to return €1.8 million from an inheritance, along with interest and legal costs, to his brother Lorenzo Viganò. Viganò had been in charge of managing the inheritance since their father passed away in 1961. The court ordered him to return money that he had allegedly used from Lorenzo’s share of the inheritance. Lorenzo, a priest from the Italian Diocese of Pavia who lives in Chicago, has had difficult relationships with the archbishop for a long time. The amount Lorenzo received was half of what Viganò had collected from the inheritance.
Lorenzo had previously sued Viganò in 2010 but dropped the case in 2014 after Viganò agreed to donate $180,000 to a children’s hospital in Tanzania, where a daughter of their sister Rosanna Viganò was working. Viganò also returned €8,600 (US$11,000) to Rosanna, which had been used in 1983 to purchase an apartment.
Critics claim that Viganò used Lorenzo’s health issues, caused by a stroke, as an excuse to avoid accepting a position as nuncio to the United States, stating he needed to care for his brother. However, critics argue the real reason was to gain better access to the family’s possessions by staying in Rome. Viganò denied these claims. His supporters said the accusations were part of a campaign to damage his reputation. Other members of Viganò’s family released a statement supporting him in the legal case against Lorenzo.