Vatican begins push- back against Carlo

Vatican City, Sept. 3: The Vatican is starting to push back against Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, author of the bombshell accusation of a sex abuse cover- up against Pope Francis, with a statement from its former spokesman about a controversial 2015 meeting Vigano organized.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi and his English- language assistant, the Rev. Thomas Rosica, issued a joint statement late Sunday disputing Vigano’s claims about the encounter he organised with an American antigay marriage campaigner, Kim Davis, during Francis' September 2015 visit to the United States.

The Vatican had sought to downplay the encounter after conservatives presented it as a papal stamp of approval for Davis.

Vigano, whose cover- up claims have thrown Francis’ papacy into turmoil, issued another statement saying Francis knew well who Davis was, and the Vatican approved the meeting in advance.

“Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them,” Mr Carlo wrote in the 7,000- word letter.

Theodore McCarrick, a retired Archbishop of Washington DC is facing multiple allegations of sexual abuse.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano was the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States or Vatican’s envoy to the country — between the year 2011 and 2016.