You may have seen the news in the Catholic media that Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has been excommunicated by Pope Francis for the canonical crime of Schism. But what does this mean?

A schism is a tear, or split, in the fabric of the Church. St Jermone said: “There is no schism which does not invent some heresy for itself in order to justify its departure from the Church.”

For some time, Archbishop Viganò has been criticising Pope Francis, and calling for his resignation, in a way that is rather extreme and difficult to ignore. As well as denying the magisterial authority of Vatican II, Viganò has accused the Pope of being a “false prophet”, a “Servant of Satan” and denied that Pope Francis is the legitimate Pope at all.

In denying the authority of Pope Francis in such a way, Viganò has created a schism between himself and the Church.

Viganò has supporters, and the danger here is that they too will go on excommunicate themselves from the Church. It is ok to criticise the Pope, but not to deny that he is the Pope.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, article 882 states that “The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter’s successor, is the perpetual and visible source and the foundation of the unity both of the bishops and the whole community of the faithful. For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.” 

Why is this necessary? It is absolutely necessary for the unity of the Church. Pope Francis was chosen in the usual way: through the prayerful discernment of the Cardinals. He is therefore absolutely the legitimate Pope and the true successor to Saint Peter the Apostle.

The Catechism also tells us that bishops have authority “in communion” with the Pope. As Viganò is no longer in communion with the Pope, it would suggest that he forfeited his authority as a bishop and excommunicated himself. A penal process has been followed through the Vatican’s Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith, and the judgement has been reached in accordance with Canon Law, which is the law of the Catholic Church.

Whatever we feel about the situation with Viganò and others such as Bishop Strickland, another vocal critic of Pope Francis, it is important that we don’t allow it to interfere with our own relationship with the Church and, more importantly, with God. The Church is not a building, it is a body of people, and people are flawed. Like all families, we have show tolerance and kindness to each other in order to stay strong together.

In Matthew 9:36, we read that Jesus saw the crowds and felt compassion for them. “They were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus shows us that we should always look at each other with compassion, even when others may be, in our opinion, failing to follow Christ.