What happened?
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has made new allegations against senior Vatican officials.The former Vatican nuncio to the United States alleged that a “terrifying dossier” had been compiled about Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the assistant Secretary of State. “This might even be a scandal surpassing that of McCarrick,” he said.
Why was it under-reported?
Archbishop Viganò originally made the claims in an interview with the Washington Post, who decided not to print what it called “unverified allegations”. Other publications seem to have taken the same view. Yet the magazine L’Espresso had last year alleged that Archbishop Peña Parra had been removed from a seminary where he studied because the authorities believed he had problematic homosexual tendencies. Archbishop Viganò claims there have been many allegations of sexual misconduct against Peña Parra, who has not publicly addressed the claims.
What will happen next?
The Vatican did not comment at the time of the L’Espresso report or last week. Yet as the allegations have been published in full by LifeSite, the Vatican may feel the need to say something – particularly as the allegations are so broad: Archbishop Viganò accuses the Pope and close associates of cover-ups. He also claims that abuse had been covered up in a seminary on Vatican grounds.
However, Francis has previously implied that such claims are driven by demonic forces, and that the best response is silence.
