Archbishop Viganò’s letter makes some explosive claims about the Pope and senior Vatican figures. But it is remarkable for another reason: it breaks the code of silence - the omertà, as the Mafia would say - which had previously been in force.
There was, in effect, an agreement not to speak publicly about McCarrick. More than 15 years ago, when I was a student in Rome, a fellow-student told me about McCarrick, the now-infamous beach house, and homosexual goings-on. At around the same time, a highly respected professor, in the course of a lecture at which dozens were present, lamented the existence of homosexual networks among the clergy. Bishops and cardinals, he said, acted in unison to appoint their fellow homosexuals to high office.
