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VATICAN CITY, October 19, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) ― In a third shocking testimony, Vatican whistleblower Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò puts the blame for clerical sexual abuse and the episcopal cover-up squarely on homosexuality.
In the new letter released today, the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States said he noticed two omissions in the backlash against his revelations about the sex abuse cover-up by leading prelates, including Pope Francis — the suffering of the victims and the reason for both the abuse and cover-up, which is homosexual clerics.
“As to the first, it is dismaying that, amid all the scandals and indignation, so little thought should be given to those damaged by the sexual predations of those commissioned as ministers of the gospel,” Viganò wrote.
The Vatican insider denied accusations that he blew the whistle on the protection and promotion of former Cardinal Archbishop Theodore McCarrick and McCarrick’s proteges out of disappointed ambition.
“This is not a matter of settling scores or sulking over the vicissitudes of ecclesiastical careers,” he declared. “It is not a matter of politics. It is not a matter of how church historians may evaluate this or that papacy. This is about souls. Many souls have been and are even now imperiled of their eternal salvation.”
Moreover, according to Viganò, “the underlying reason why there are so many victims” is “the corrupting influence of homosexuality in the priesthood and in the hierarchy.”
“This very grave crisis cannot be properly addressed and resolved unless and until we call things by their true names,” he wrote.
“This is a crisis due to the scourge of homosexuality, in its agents, in its motives, in its resistance to reform,” Viganò continued. “It is no exaggeration to say that homosexuality has become a plague in the clergy, and it can only be eradicated with spiritual weapons.”
The whistleblower said it was an “enormous hypocrisy” to condemn the abuse and “claim to weep” for its victims and yet not address the “root cause: homosexuality.”
“It is hypocrisy to refuse to acknowledge that this scourge is due to a serious crisis in the spiritual life of the clergy and to fail to take the steps necessary to remedy it,” Viganò continued.
Perhaps anticipating accusations of holding a double standard, Viganò acknowledged that there are womanizing priests and prelates and that “they too damage their own souls, the souls of those whom they corrupt, and the Church at large.” However, he pointed out that there are no networks of womanizing clerics, no system in which womanizing clerics identify, promote and protect each other in their sins.
“Philandering clergy usually do not recruit other philanderers, nor work to promote them, nor cover-up their misdeeds — whereas the evidence for homosexual collusion, with its deep roots that are so difficult to eradicate, is overwhelming,” he wrote.
Clericalism is also to blame for abuse, but only insofar as “homosexual predators” use it to their advantage, Viganò said.
The archbishop insinuated that he was not surprised by the backlash against his testimony because his words are now considered politically incorrect.
“Denouncing homosexual corruption and the moral cowardice that allows it to flourish does not meet with congratulation in our times, not even in the highest spheres of the Church,” he wrote.
“I am not surprised that in calling attention to these plagues I am charged with disloyalty to the Holy Father and with fomenting an open and scandalous rebellion,” he continued, quoting Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s broadside against him.
Viganò denies disloyalty to the Pope and says he prays for him more than he has ever done for other popes.
Frequent contributor Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons, who has treated sexually abusive clerics and written a study on the role of homosexuality in the abuse of teenage boys, believes that the current practice of accepting homosexual men into the priesthood undermines Catholic teaching on sexual morality. He has asked the bishops to screen out these candidates and also to address “complaints by priests of aggressive homosexual behavior in rectories and religious communities.”
This week, another whistleblower, Fr. David Marsden, revealed the existence of a homosexual subculture at England’s Oscott College seminary. Previously, Marden had called time on a similar homosexual subculture in Ireland’s Maynooth College seminary.