Religion

Letter Accusing Pope Leaves U.S. Catholics in Conflict

In a remarkable break from the usual decorum among the bishops, American Catholic leaders are in open conflict over the explosive allegations from a former Vatican diplomat that Pope Francis knew about, and ignored, accusations of sexual abuse against a now-disgraced American cleric.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, a Pope Francis appointee, said that the pope’s opponents were using the accusations by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to advance a larger agenda.

“I do think it’s about limiting the days of this pope, and short of that, neutering his voice or casting ambiguity around him,” Cardinal Tobin said in a phone interview on Monday. “And it’s part of a larger upheaval both within and without the church.”

Some conservative American bishops swiftly came to Archbishop Viganò’s defense. Cardinal Raymond Burke, the ultraconservative former archbishop of St. Louis who is now based in Rome, said that after the truth of Archbishop Viganò’s accusations is established, “then the appropriate sanctions must be applied.”