Here’s the confused theology of Carlo Vigano, a former Bishop of the Catholic Church, who committed heresy and schism when his very weak faith was tested by God: Vigano’s Open Letter To Confused Priests. This open letter appeared in the schismatic and heretical “Remnant” newspaper, which rejects Vatican II and the Popes since that time. It is a sedevacantist publication, and a fitting mouthpiece for Vigano, who teaches a similar heresy.

Vigano: “Scripture urges us to be obedient, moderating our obedience with patience and a spirit of penance, but it does not exhort us absolutely to obey orders that are intrinsically evil simply because the one who issues the orders to us holds authority.”

Vigano does not cite a passage of Scripture that he is interpreting in that manner. And Vigano’s claim contradicts Christianity Itself. For Christianity teaches with the authority of Christ, the Son of God. God is Truth. Satan is the father of lies. We are called as Christians to absolute obedience to Christ, since nothing he teaches or commands is ever intrinsically evil, nor false, nor evil in any way.

So this very first assertion by Vigano rejects Christianity and Christ, speaking as if the Catholic Christian Faith were merely of men, and as if the Church were not the body of Christ, with Christ as Her Head, and with the Holy Spirit as Her Soul. The doctrine and discipline of Christ and of the Holy Spirit are never intrinsically evil. And the One who issues the orders holds the authority of Christ, who is God. When Scripture teaches obedience, it is obedience to God. And the primary truth that makes we Catholic Christians Catholic, rather than Protestant, is the belief that God teaches in and through the Magisterium of the Church, which is Apostolic.

The Magisterium is exercised by the successors of Peter, the Popes, and by the successors of the other Apostles, the Bishops. And it is the Holy Spirit teaching through them. Therefore, the Magisterium of the Church never teaches grave error, even in its non-infallible teachings. This is taught infallibly by the First Vatican Council. The papal accusers pretend to be rejecting Pope Francis and Vatican II. But this rejection would be impossible without first rejecting Vatican I.

Recall that the Arian heretics were rebuked and condemned by the First Ecumenical Council (Nicaea), and yet their heresy continued until the Second Ecumenical Council (Constantinople) again rebuked and condemned them. Similarly, the heretics led by Vigano are rejecting both Vatican I and II.

The Teaching of Vatican I
Rejected by Vigano

Whosoever rejects a doctrine of a Creed of an Ecumenical Council is a heretic and schismatic. Vatican I Creed: “I acknowledge the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, the mother and mistress of all the Churches.”

How can the Roman Church, led by the successors of Saint Peter, be the mother and mistress of all Churches, when Her decision of doctrine and discipline are called “intrinsically evil” and when her Head is treated with extreme malice and hatred, and his authority opposed at every turn? Vigano does not accept the Roman Church as the mother and mistress of all Churches. He proposes instead that any Bishop, even a retired Bishop with no flock like himself, can exalt himself above the successor of Peter and condemn him as teaching evil.

Vatican I: “Everybody knows that those heresies, condemned by the fathers of Trent, which rejected the divine magisterium of the Church and allowed religious questions to be a matter for the judgment of each individual…”

The Church teaches with the authority of Christ who is God. So the claim of Vigano that we do not have to be obedient to the authority of Popes and Councils, merely because one individual or another, or a small group, has judged that authority to have taught grave error or to have decided upon disciplines that gravely harm the Faith. To the contrary, it is heresy when one rejects the Divine Magisterium of the Church — whose teachings are from Christ through the Holy Spirit, whose authority is Divine — and allows religious questions to be left to the judgment of individuals. And how many Bishops have joined with Vigano in rejecting Francis and the body of Bishops in communion with him? They can be counted on one hand.

Sacred Scripture does not allow each individual Catholic to accuse the teachings of the Divine Magisterium of the Church of being intrinsically evil and therefore to reject them. Now does Sacred Scripture give to each individual the right to judge each Roman Pontiff and condemn him as an antipope or the false prophet or other terms of malice and hatred.

Vigano: “The problem of a perverted authority – that is, one that does not act within its proper limits or which has autonomously given to itself a purpose opposite to that which legitimizes it – is addressed by Sacred Scripture, reminding us that omnis potestas a Deo [all power comes from God] (Rom 13:1) and that qui resistit potestati, Dei ordinationi resistit [whoever resists authority, resists what God has ordained] (Rom 13: 2). And if Saint Paul tells us to obey civil authority, all the more are we bound to obey ecclesiastical authority, due to the primacy that spiritual matters have over temporal ones.”

But according to the First Vatican Council, the authority of the Church, both Her authority over discipline and over doctrine, the two swords of the Church, the two keys of Peter, cannot be perverted. For then the gates of Hell would have prevailed over the Church. The dogma of the indefectibility of the Church is taught by Vatican I, but was also taught by previous Councils as well. The Church cannot be perverted, cannot fail to act within its proper limits, nor are those limits determined by any Bishop or priest who decides that he will judge and condemn an authority greater than his own. The Church cannot teach grave error, for then She would have defected.

Nor can the successors of Peter teach grave error, or ever fail in faith. For our Lord promised that the indefectible Church would be founded on Peter, as on a Rock, not on sand as Vigano implies, and that Peter and his successors would have the charism of truth and of never-failing faith (Mt 16:18; Lk 22:32). And this interpretation of Sacred Scripture is the infallible teaching of Vatican I, as well as of the ordinary universal Magisterium.

So the claim by Vigano that the authority of Popes and Councils is a perverse authority, teaching intrinsically evil doctrine and discipline, and that we must therefore stand in judgment over the Church and condemn Her as if She had defected is an exceedingly wicked example of schism and heresy. For to propose these claims, Vigano must reject the teaching and promises of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mt 16:18; Lk 22:32). And this authority, which Vigano calls perverted and evil, is none other than the authority of Christ, expressed by the work of the Holy Spirit in Popes and Councils.

Could Pope Francis be an antipope, who therefore lacks this authority? No. It is a dogmatic fact that Pope Francis is the valid true Roman Pontiff. For the dogma is that the Church is indefectible. But if the body of Bishops ever went astray following a false Pope, the Church would have defected. FOR THE CHURCH IS APOSTOLIC!!! Rejecting the Popes, by accusing many of them of teaching or committing heresy or apostasy or idolatry (or of provoking a schism), is an accusation against the Apostolic nature of the Church. But since the successors to the Apostles, as a body, and the successor of Peter, as an individual, cannot defect, when the body of Bishops accepts any man as Roman Pontiff, he is the true successor of Peter. Therefore, Pope Francis, having been accepted by the body of Bishops, is the true Pope.

And each time Vigano calls Pope Francis “Bergoglio” or some other expression of his rejection of that dogmatic fact, he reaffirms his sin of schism and his rejection of the indefectibility of the Church and of Her Apostolic Nature.

Ironically, Vigano points out that: “Sacred Scripture, reminding us that omnis potestas a Deo [all power comes from God] (Rom 13:1) and that qui resistit potestati, Dei ordinationi resistit [whoever resists authority, resists what God has ordained]”.

{9:40} And certain Pharisees, who were with him, heard this, and they said to him, “Are we also blind?”
{9:41} Jesus said to them: “If you were blind, you would not have sin. Yet now you say, ‘We see.’ So your sin persists.”

Vigano knows the teachings of Vatican I, but he rejects them. He knows Sacred Scripture teaches that all authority, especially the spiritual authority of the Church, comes from God and therefore whoever resists that authority, resists the ordination of God. And yet he continues rejecting the Popes and the Councils.

Dear Confused Priests, Vigano and Schneider are heretics and schismatics. The teaching of Pope Francis is difficult for you because you incorporated erroneous opinions into your understanding of the true Faith. And when the Church teaches contrary to your own misunderstandings, pride leads you to reject the Church, rather than to accept correction.

{6:67} After this, many of his disciples went back, and they no longer walked with him.

Vigano: “You observe that it is not up to us to judge authority, because the Son of Man will return to do justice at the end of time. But if we had to wait for the day of Judgment to see evildoers punished, for what purpose would the Divine Majesty have established on earth both a temporal and spiritual authority? Is it not perhaps their task, as Vicars of Christ the King and High Priest, to reign and govern their subjects on this earth, administering justice and punishing evildoers? What sense would laws have if there were not those whose task it is to make them be respected, sanctioning those who violate them? If the arbitrariness of those who are established in authority were not punished by those who have authority over them, how could their subjects – both civil and ecclesiastical – hope to obtain justice on earth?”

It is not about the End Times. What is at issue is the teaching of Vatican I that the Church is indefectible and that the Roman Pontiffs cannot teach grave error, not even in their non-infallible Magisterium, and cannot fail in faith by apostasy, heresy, or idolatry.

Vigano assumes the need to judge authority because he has entirely lost his infused virtue of faith. He has no faith in the indefectibility of the Church, no faith in the teachings of any Ecumenical Councils (unless his own mind agrees, which is not faith), and no faith in the Roman Pontiffs. He has no faith in the Church, which he treats as a mere human institution. He has no faith in Sacred Scripture, which he interprets very selectively, like Satan quoting Scripture to Christ. Vigano claims we must judge authority or we would be led astray until the time that Christ returns! because he has no faith in the authority of Christ present in the Church, guarded by the Holy Spirit.

And now this next sentence is hilarious. Vigano: “If the arbitrariness of those who are established in authority were not punished by those who have authority over them, how could their subjects – both civil and ecclesiastical – hope to obtain justice on earth?”

Vigano teaches with authority, since he only accepts, arbitrarily, those teachings of Popes and Councils that please him. The Pope and the body of Bishops have authority over Vigano. Therefore, for the sake of justice on earth, the arbitrariness of Vigano must be punished by the Pope and the Bishops. His own argument works against himself.

And the argument does not work against Popes and Councils, for they do not teach with arbitrariness but by the Holy Spirit with the authority of Christ. The Lord Jesus promised that the Church would not go astray, that Peter would not fail in faith, and the Ecumenical Councils, teaching from the Holy Spirit, taught that each Pope has the charism of truth and of never-failing faith.

Vatican I: “For the Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles.

Indeed, their apostolic teaching was embraced by all the venerable fathers and reverenced and followed by all the holy orthodox doctors, for they knew very well that this See of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error, in accordance with the divine promise of our Lord and Savior to the prince of his disciples: I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren [60].

7. This gift of truth and never-failing faith was therefore divinely conferred on Peter and his successors in this See so that they might discharge their exalted office for the salvation of all, and so that the whole flock of Christ might be kept away by them from the poisonous food of error and be nourished with the sustenance of heavenly doctrine.”

The successors of Peter have the Holy Spirit, and therefore their teaching is not some new false doctrine — as Vigano claims, but is necessarily always the faithful explanation of true revelation from God, as transmitted by the Apostles and their successors. The Church led by Vigano is not Apostolic. Almost all the successors of the Apostles and all the reject successors of Peter are rejected by the false Church led by Vigano.

The Apostolic teaching of the successor of Peter “was embraced by all the venerable fathers and reverenced and followed by all the holy orthodox doctors, for they knew very well that this See of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error, in accordance with the divine promise of our Lord and Savior” (Lk 22:32). This teaching of Vatican I is an infallible definition, and it is infallible under the ordinary universal Magisterium as it has been the constant teaching of the fathers and holy doctors of the Church. And thus it is dogma, and the contrary is heresy, that “this See of Peter always remains unblemished by any error”. Therefore, the infallible teachings of Papal Infallibility, Conciliar Infallibility, and the ordinary universal Magisterium are free from all error, and the non-infallible teaching of Popes and the body of Bishops in communion with the Pope are free from all grave error. For a less-than-grave error in a non-infallible teaching is not a blemish on the See of Peter.

Therefore, the argument of Vigano, that insolent clever persons like himself must rise up and judge and condemn the Roman Pontiff and the recent Councils and the body of Bishops led by the Pope (thereby rejecting the Apostolic Nature of the Church), is refuted. For the authority exercised by them is the authority of Christ, and the truths taught by them are unblemished by any error. There is no need then for a system where the Pope and the body of Bishops are corrected by any individual Bishops who has a large following on the internet. Such a system is absurd.

But since Vigano rejects Vatican I and II and all the reject Popes, here is a lesson for him from the Council of Trent:

Council of Trent: “In addition, in order to restrain insolent clever persons, [the Synod] decrees that no one, by his own ingenuity, in matters of faith and morals pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine, shall dare to interpret the same Sacred Scripture, conforming the meaning of Sacred Scripture to his own mind, contrary to that sense which holy mother Church, who is to judge the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, has held and does hold; or even contrary to the unanimous agreement of the Fathers, even if such interpretations were never at any time [intended] to be brought to light.”

And what interpretation of Sacred Scripture is needed to correct Vigano? Matthew 16:18 and Luke 22:32 as interpreted by the First Vatican Council, and “all the venerable fathers and … all the holy orthodox doctors”. The Church is indefectible because She is founded on Peter (Mt 16:18), and Peter has the charism of truth and of never-failing faith (Lk 22:32), and therefore cannot teach grave error nor fail in faith, and Peter then confirms his brother Bishops as a body, so that they too can never teach grave error nor fail in faith, but only as a body (Lk 22:32c).

Vigano: “Obedience to a perverted authority cannot be considered to be required, nor morally good”

The claim that the Popes, the body of Bishops, and the Councils have expressed a perverted authority and have taught grave errors on faith or morals is heretical and schismatic. It contradicts the Council of Trent, as well as Vatican I and II. Moreover, Vigano’s refusal to accept Pope Francis as the valid Roman Pontiff, even though the body of Bishops has accepted him, is a rejection of the dogma of the indefectibility of the Church, and is schismatic in the extreme. The only perverted authority is that of a retired Bishop, named Carlo Vigano, who has rejected submission to the Roman Pontiff and communion with the body of Bishops. He has no authority to judge Popes and Councils.

Vigano: “Nor is the Church an exception, as we can painfully observe”

But Jesus the Son of God, who rose from the dead, taught that the Church is an exception: She is indefectible. The gates of Hell will not prevail against Her. She is the Bride and Christ. She is the Body of Christ. She is the image of the Virgin Mary, and vice versa. She is not only an exception to the tendency of human organizations to become corrupt, She is absolutely exceptional and peerless, and Christ only has one Body. The Church is also an exception as She is holy and universal.

Thus, the wicked heretic and schismatic, Carlo Magog Vigano, has rejected the four marks of the Church. He holds the Church to no longer be holy, nor one, nor universal, nor apostolic.

Vigano: “Bergoglio himself, who ought to represent the highest Authority on earth, uses the power of the Holy Keys to support the globalist agenda and promote heterodox doctrines, well aware that the principle of Prima Sedes a nemine iudicatur permits him to proceed undisturbed.”

Vigano is a schismatic. He does not accept the authority of Pope Francis, but instead calls him “Bergoglio”. Then he says he “ought to represent the highest authority on earth”. In this way, he publicly proclaims his schism from the Roman Catholic Church. The claim that Francis is supporting a globalist agenda is merely Vigano’s fallible interpretation, the misunderstanding of a heretic and schismatic who entirely lacks infused theological faith. And his open malice toward the Roman Pontiff and the Church Herself proves this unfortunately fact. I do not judge his soul, but I point out that he proclaims to everyone the state of his own souls very clearly.

The principle that the First See is judged by no one is an ancient Teaching of the Church, Her constant teaching and is therefore infallible under the ordinary universal Magisterium. It is another dogma rejected by Vigano.

Errors on Covid-19

Vigano: “In the same way, the CDF is silent on the morality of shamefully speculating on a product that is being presented as the only defense against an influenza virus that still has not been isolated but only sequenced. In the absence of viral isolation, it is not scientifically possible to produce the vaccine antigen, and this fact reveals the entire operation of Covid – to anyone who is not blinded by prejudice or bad faith – in all of its criminal falsity and intrinsic immorality.”

The Covid-19 virus, called SARS-CoV-2, has been isolated. For example, one study I read used a “a SARS-COV-2 clinically isolated virus strain” [1]. And it is not unusual to find other studies using the SARS-CoV-2 virus in experiments. Furthermore, in order to sequence a virus, one must first isolate it. So the claims of Vigano quoted above are ignorant, unscientific, and provably false.

A similar false claim, spreading around on the internet (whether repeated by Vigano or not, I don’t know) is that the vaccine doesn’t prevent infection with the Covid-19 virus. The way that all vaccines work is that the person who has been vaccinated, when exposed to the virus, has the antibodies and other immune system components (e.g. T-cells) needed to fight off the virus. So if the virus enters the body, the immune system kills it. Therefore, some scientists technically state that vaccines don’t prevent infection (meaning the virus entering the body). Of course not. That is not how vaccines work. How would a vaccine keep the virus from entering the body? The immune system can’t leave the body and surround the body with a protective shield. Vaccines prevent infection in the sense of preventing an infection that takes hold and causes a disease, and needs to be treated. But it cannot prevent the virus from merely entering the body, if that is your definition of “infection”. Vaccines prevent you from getting sick, and that is what you want.

Vigano goes on to criticize the WHO. His criticism come from ignorance. There are knowledgeable doctors who have rightly criticized WHO. But the criticisms of Vigano are just a jumble of misinformation. Ignore him on medical topics.

For prevention, take Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Vitamins K1 and K2, Zinc, and Selenium. For treatment, ask your doctor about ivermectin and/or budesonide (Symbicort).

Returning to discussions about Church authority, Vigano quotes a priest who (stupidly) wrote to Vigano for advice:

priest: “Therefore whoever finds himself facing people invested with the Authority of Jesus who are acting in a way that is obviously opposed to His mandate, finds himself in the condition of having to ask himself whether or not he can obey their Authority, when in terrible situations like this, whoever exercises authority in the name of Jesus is blatantly going against His Mandates.”

Right. “obviously opposed to His mandate”. This is the problem of those disciples in John 6, who heard Jesus tell them to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Well, that is obviously opposed to Sacred Scripture, from the point of view of a fallen sinner. And so many disciples walked away. And Jesus knew they would walk away, and yet He did not rephrase His teaching to keep them in the fold.

Jesus, the Son of God, does not WANT YOU in His fold if you only believe what seems right to your own mind. He wants those who Love Jesus so much that they will believe and obey mandates that seem obviously wrong to their own minds. Jesus does not want priests and bishops in His fold who do not have the infused theological virtue of faith, such that they believe even those teachings contrary to their own understanding. That is why Jesus is testing the faithful today with the true teachings of Pope Francis, which are worded in such a way as to divide the faithful from the prideful, the simple from the wise-in-their-own-eyes, the sheep from the goats.

The priest has put his own judgment above Faith in the Church of Jesus Christ. The priest has decided that his own judgment about what is obviously opposed to His mandate should be his guide, rather than Faith in the Teachings of the Holy Spirit through the successors of Peter and the successors of the other Apostles. Therefore, this priest is acting just like the unfaithful pride-filled disciples of John 6, who no longer walk with Christ because His teaching was too hard to accept.

Why doesn’t the Pope make his teachings easier to accept? If you have faith, it is very easy to accept Francis’ teachings. During his entire Pontificate, I have had no difficulty whatsoever accepting any teaching of Pope Francis. The yoke of Jesus is light, if you are guided by faith. However, if you are guided by your own understanding, and you want the Vicar of Christ to submit the Authority of Christ entrusted to him to the pretended authority of pride-filled faithless persons who will not accept any teaching they dislike, no matter what the explanation, then what you want is evil.

God chose Pope Francis from the womb, and formed him to be a two-edged sword, to remove from the Church those conservatives Pharisees, who had decided, long before the election of Francis, that Truth is only what they say it is, and that they have the authority to judge, correct, condemn and rebel against any Pope or Council.

Who the Hell is Vigano? Is he some great theologian? Name one work of theology written by Carlo Vigano. Name one theological insight which is unique to his work. Where can his work with Sacred Scripture be found? What work did Vigano do for the Church as a Bishop? He tricked Pope Francis into meeting with Kim Davis, the county clerk who refused to process marriage certificates for same-sex couples. Vigano is like the Joe Biden of Catholicism. He has been in office for many years, and accomplished nothing. And now Vigano exalts himself to pretend to run the whole Church.

Even if the First See were judged by someone, it wouldn’t be Vigano. He has no qualifications. He is nobody in the Church. I question whether his frequent public attacks on the Pope and the Church are motivated by his lust for power, more so than a perverse attempt to correct they who do not need correction.

Ronald L. Conte Jr.

1. Liu, Hongbo, et al. “Scutellaria baicalensis extract and baicalein inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-2 and its 3C-like protease in vitro.” Journal of enzyme inhibition and medicinal chemistry 36.1 (2021): 497-503.