Vigan\u00f2, the former Apostolic Nuncio who led the Holy See\u2019s diplomatic mission to the U.S. and was named to his position by Pope Benedict, is a cultural warrior who shows\u00a0up at anti-abortion rallies as well as NOM\u2019s \u2018March for Marriage\u2019 in Washington D.C. His accusations against Pope Francis are the spearhead of an effort by conservatives in the Catholic church to damage the Pope.<\/p>\n
The NYT reports<\/a>: \u201cThey believe the pope is abandoning the church\u2019s rules and traditions through his shift away from culture-war issues like abortion in favor of an emphasis on inclusion, including toward gays<\/a>, whom Archbishop Vigan\u00f2 and his allies blame for pedophilia in the church.\u201d<\/p>\n In his new statement<\/a>, which was published by the ultra-conservative LifeSite News, Vigan\u00f2 accuses the Pope of lying about the meeting with Davis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wrote Vigan\u00f2:<\/p>\n This is a summary of the events.<\/p>\n As mentioned at the beginning, on August 28, 2018, the New York Times reported an interview with Juan Carlos Cruz, in which Cruz reported that during his meeting with the Pope, in April 2018, the Pope told him about the Davis case. According to Cruz, the Pope said:\u00a0\u201cI did not know who the woman<\/a> was and he [Msgr. Vigan\u00f2] snuck her in to say hello to me \u2014 and of course they made a whole publicity out of it. And I was horrified and I fired that Nuncio.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n One of them is lying: either Cruz or the Pope? What is certain is that the Pope knew very well who Davis was, and he and his close collaborators had approved the private audience. Journalists can always check, by asking the prelates Becciu, Gallagher and Parolin, as well as the Pope himself.<\/p>\n It is clear, however, that Pope Francis wanted to conceal the private audience with the first American citizen condemned and imprisoned for conscientious objection.<\/p>\n The Vatican has issued a joint statement by Rev. Federico Lombardi and his English-language assistant, the Rev. Thomas Rosica, pushing back on Vigan\u00f2\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n The AP reports<\/a>: \u2018In the joint statement Sunday, Rosica transcribed what he said were handwritten notes from a meeting he and Lombardi had with Vigan\u00f2 the following evening. In those notes, Rosica quoted Vigan\u00f2 as telling them that the pope had actually chastised him for \u201cdeceiving\u201d him with the Davis encounter, and for having withheld the fact that Davis had been married four times. In his part of the joint statement, Lombardi said Vigan\u00f2 initiated the Davis meeting, should have known about the furor that it would cause, and that even though Vatican officials approved of it, they were not sufficiently informed about the significance such a meeting would take on.\u2019<\/p>\n The post Vatican Pushes Back After Archbishop Accuses Pope Francis of \u2018Lying\u2019 About Meeting with Kim Davis<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n