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Argentinian theologian Victor Manuel Fernández

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ARGENTINA, September 20, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – An Argentinian archbishop who is a close friend of Pope Francis has suggested that former U.S. nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò suffers from megalomania, a delusional mental illness “marked by feelings of personal omnipotence and grandeur.”

Víctor Manuel “Tucho” Fernández, Archbishop of La Plata, Argentina said in an interview that Viganò has placed his conservative ideological interests above the good of the people who, as a result, end up confused and hopeless.  

The Fernández interview is filled with hyperbolic statements ranging from accusing Viganò of seeking to groundlessly discredit Pope Francis through his testimony to proposing that Viganò is one of a group of ideologues who “bear false witness and lie” in order to defend traditional doctrine.

There are “ideological obsessions more powerful than sanity,” said Fernández.  

The Argentinian’s comments come amid a series of four homilies preached by Pope Francis in which he seems to have suggested that Viganò and other faithful Catholics are doing the work of the devil, the “Great Accuser,” in order to anger and “scandalize the people.”

Fernández’s comments are also in line with those of other left-wing prelates who remain in a panic over Viganò’s testimony. For example, Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich said that those who disagree with Pope Francis “don’t like him because he’s a Latino.”  

Their panic comes as no surprise: Viganò’s testimony represents an existential threat to the liberal forces that currently wield power at the Vatican and throughout the Church.

In an 11-page written statement published in August, Archbishop Viganò, 77, claimed that Pope Francis knew about strict canonical sanctions imposed on now-disgraced homosexual abuser former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick by Pope Benedict XVI but chose to repeal them. Viganò also called for Pope Francis to resign.

In his testimony, Viganò also:

  • Revealed McCarrick was a “kingmaker” for appointments in the Curia and U.S. episcopate;
  • Confirmed that there is a network of homosexual operatives in the U.S. church at its highest levels;
  • Explained how Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich and other liberal prelates were elevated;
  • Called Washington, D.C. Cardinal Donald Wuerl a liar;
  • Implicated Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is considered papabile, in the McCarrick scandal;
  • Revealed the Pope’s dislike of “right-wing,” i.e. faithful, bishops;
  • Identified Jesuit Father James Martin as someone who promotes the “LGBT agenda”

Despite Fernández’s assertions, 38 prelates from the United States and around the world have expressed support for Archbishop Viganò and want to see his claims investigated. These prelates include Cardinal Raymond Burke, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop Robert Barron, and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB).

Archbishop Fernández is widely believed to be the ghostwriter of Pope Francis’s controversial apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. That document has opened the door to allowing Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics without the condition that the couple in adultery live as brother and sister without sexual relations, as was always required by the Church. He is also the author of a book called Heal Me with your Mouth: The Art of Kissing.