The Vatican said on Friday that it had excommunicated Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the church’s former ambassador to the US, after finding him guilty of schism for refusing to recognise the authority of Pope Francis and the liberal reforms enacted after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

Viganò has emerged as one of the most unbridled conservative critics of Francis, calling him in public statements a “false prophet” and a “servant of Satan”, while embracing right-wing conspiracy theories and lauding former President Donald Trump.

Though excommunicated, Viganò will be able to keep his title, but he will not be allowed to celebrate Mass, receive or administer sacraments, and hold official positions within the church’s hierarchy.

Writing on the social platform X on Friday, Viganò published the full text of the decision against him by the Vatican’s doctrinal office, which warned that he risked other punishments, including expulsion from the Roman Catholic priesthood. He called on his supporters to speak out.

The decision cited more than a dozen instances in which Viganò had criticised or repudiated Francis or challenged the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which the archbishop recently described in a post on a website for his foundation as an “ideological, theological, moral and liturgical cancer”.

New York Times News Service