John Moody to Newsmax: Pope Used 'Certain Viciousness' on Vigano

Pope Francis is not the first pope to excommunicate those who disagree with him, such as Archbishop Carlo Vigano, but "he's doing it with a certain viciousness," John Moody, author of "The World We Wish," told Newsmax.

"To excommunicate a member of the College of Cardinals is harsh, to say the very least," Moody, a former executive vice president at Fox News, said on "The Chris Salcedo Show" Monday.

"But Pope Francis now, clearly in the last several of his years left, is taking actions like that. He is getting even with people who have gotten in his way."

As a result, the pope is "proclaiming himself to be the voice of the church and is bringing on to the Cardinal's College only people who agree with him," Moody added. "He's not the first pope to do this, but he's doing it with a certain viciousness."

The Vatican excommunicated Vigano, its former ambassador to the United States and a fierce critic of the pontiff, after finding him guilty of schism.

Vigano was found guilty of "refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the church subject to him, and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council."

"He was embarrassing them," said C.J. Doyle, executive director of Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, who was also on the program Monday.

"He was coming out with very damaging revelations about financial corruption, sexual scandals, the relationship of the Vatican of everybody from the Chicoms to FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] ... [T]his wasn't a theological excommunication. This was a crudely political and heavy-handedly bureaucratic attempt to silence, punish, and discredit a whistleblower."

Vigano responded to the excommunication with strong words about the Pope's embrace of the LGBTQ community and referred to Francis as "The Argentinian Jesuit, a notorious heretic and promoter of the inclusion of public sin."

Moody said the response comes as Vigano had "very little to lose."

"He has been excommunicated," said Moody.

"Now, strangely — and for those who don't understand the inner workings of the Catholic Church — he has not lost his title as an archbishop, which is bewildering to a lot of people. But, nonetheless, he is not allowed to receive nor give sacraments of the church, which is, of course, the main role of priests within the Catholic Church."

Meanwhile, Doyle said the Pope "seems to be in schism from traditional Catholic moral teachings," with his recent actions.

'I think this is a really outrageous example of selective prosecution," Doyle said. "Jesuit Father James Martin openly denies within the Bible and the Catechism about same-sex relations, and the Pope promotes him and is going to write the [preface] for his new book.

"Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi believe in, you know, legal, unrestricted, tax-funded abortion, which should be paid for by employers and which pro-life physicians have no conscience rights. And they're welcomed at the Vatican."

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