# Carlo Maria Viganò Carlo Maria Viganò (b. 1941) is an Italian archbishop and former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States (2011-2016) who became the most prominent clerical antagonist of [[Pope Francis]] and a fixture of the U.S. Catholic-traditionalist and MAGA right. He is the clerical hinge of the Catholic-right "wedge" in [[The Octopus]] frame. ## The break with Francis In August 2018 Viganò published an eleven-page "testimony" accusing Francis of covering up Theodore McCarrick's abuse and explicitly calling on the pope to resign. (The Vatican's 2020 McCarrick Report found that Viganò himself had failed to investigate McCarrick when ordered to in 2012.) In an October 2020 open letter to Donald Trump, he warned of a "global conspiracy against God and humanity," casting Trump against "the children of darkness" -- language posted to QAnon channels and amplified by [[Michael Flynn]] and on [[Steve Bannon]]'s *War Room*. ## Excommunication In July 2024 the Vatican's doctrine office declared Viganò excommunicated for the schism of refusing to recognize Francis's authority and rejecting the legitimacy of the [[Second Vatican Council]]. He refused to participate in the canonical process. ## Epistemic status That Viganò published the testimony and the Trump letter, and that he was excommunicated, are documented; the accuracy of his McCarrick accusations is disputed and partly contradicted by the Vatican's own report. His "global conspiracy against God" framing is a near-perfect verbal match for the apocalyptic dualism of the Octopus frame -- which is precisely why it travels in those circles. ## See also - [[The Octopus]] - [[Pope Francis]] - [[Steve Bannon]] - [[Michael Flynn]] - [[Second Vatican Council]]