If anyone has not yet read the testimony of Archbishop Vigano, I recommend it as an important piece of evidence. The 11 page document is easily found on the internet in written form, or may be listened to read by Fr Zuhlsdorf on his blog.
I read it on Tuesday after returning from a weekend in Walsingham and elsewhere, and thought that it was explosive evidence very detrimental to Pope Francis and several other high ranking clergy. I then searched the internet for comment and analysis, and found that almost everyone was defending Pope Francis and picking holes in Archbishop Vigano's evidence. Some fairly reasonable points were raised which did cast some doubts in my mind about the adequacy of some parts of Archbishop Vigano's evidence. Finally, I reread the testimony, and my ultimate conclusion is that the Archbishop is correct in every detail.
The testimony is, for the most part, very detailed, giving dates, places and the actual words of some of his conversations. My first reason for believing Archbishop Vigano is because of the amount of detail given. Secondly, I believe the details of the evidence because they contain so many surprises. There are episodes recounted that, at first sight, seem unlikely, and on reflection are indeed so unlikely that it is difficult to believe that anyone would have made them up.
The numerous people who have come to Pope Francis's defence, led in this country by Austen Ivereigh, have not impressed me with their arguments. Some of the arguments are well presented, but they all have the hallmark of being orchestrated and very much on the defensive. It seems as if someone has been managing the responses.
As a rule, I do not comment on controversial issues on this blog, preferring to keep to purely factual matters. On this occasion, I have made an exception because the subject matter is so grave, and because, after several days consideration I have become convinced of the reliability of Archbishop Vigaro's testimony.
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