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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 24, 2024

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Could be an argument via Vigano?

Without getting too deep into the allegations of a disgruntled former nuncio, it is at least semi-plausibly alleged that Francis was/is allied to and relied on the support of abusers. Some circumstantial evidence bears this out - if you look at the sordid history of Theodore McCarrick, it looks suspicious.

Very short version: American cardinal slept with seminarians, this came out around 2006-7, Benedict XVI put restrictions on McCarrick's movements and activities, after Francis became pope in 2013 he removed those restrictions, this is suspicious because McCarrick was an advocate for progressive changes in the church and a potential ally of Francis.

Former papal nuncio Vigano made public accusations along these lines, Francis refused to respond but told journalists "I will not say one word on this. Judge for yourselves." Naturally the media ended up exonerating Francis and declaring Vigano a crackpot. Now, to be fair, Vigano has gone to in fact basically be a crackpot - he's a hardcore Trumpist and he alleges some kind of gay Freemason conspiracy within the Catholic Church - so it makes sense to take his accusations with a grain of salt, but at the very least, the idea that Francis ignores or lightly skips over sexual abuse committed by political allies is plausible.

There isn't a single smoking gun, but we know that the rate of homosexuality among Catholic clergy is extremely high and there is ample cause for suspicion. I don't take any of Vigano's specific accusations at face value, but I am distrustful of Francis and anything going on inside the Vatican.

I don't know if you've heard, but +Vigano (if I still get to use the + for him) has been officially excommunicated and summoned to Rome.