Author of abuse charges claims to be ‘at peace’

Archbishop says he acted out of love for the church

VATICAN CITY — The author of the bombshell accusation that Pope Francis covered up sex abuse broke his silence Wednesday, insisting he didn’t act out of revenge or anger but out of love for the Catholic Church.

In comments carried on the blog of Italian journalist Aldo Maria Valli, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano said he was “serene and at peace” after publishing his declaration, albeit saddened by subsequent attempts to undermine his credibility.

Vigano’s accusations published Sunday — that Francis and before him Pope Benedict XVI knew of ex-Cardinal McCarrick’s sexual preying on seminarians — have thrown Francis’ papacy into crisis. They have undermined the pontiff’s claim of having “zero tolerance” for sex abuse and have fueled the left-right ideological divide that has long split the church and intensified under Francis.

Vigano, the retired Vatican ambassador to the U.S., said Francis should resign for what he called his complicity in the McCarrick scandal, though Vigano’s denunciations also implicate Benedict and a host of high-ranking U.S. and Vatican officials going back two decades.

“I spoke out because by now the corruption has arrived at the top of the church hierarchy,” Vigano was quoted as saying.

Valli, a Vatican expert with state-run RAI television, has said Vigano twice came to his home to consult with him in the weeks leading up to publication of his bombshell. Another conservative Italian journalist, Marco Tosatti, helped Vigano rewrite and edit the document, and arranged for its publication in Italian, English and Spanish-language media.

In the Valli interview, Vigano revisited old Vatican controversies that marked his career and explained that he decided to go public now because the denunciation he had made confidentially to three cardinals in 2012 wasn’t acted on.

It referred to the 2012 investigation commissioned by Benedict into the leaks of confidential documents that became known as the “Vatileaks” affair. Benedict’s then-butler, Paolo Gabrieli, was convicted of stealing the papers and leaking them to an Italian journalist who published them in a book.

Vigano figured in the investigation because some of his letters lamenting his transfer to Washington were leaked.

ANDREW MEDICHINI/AP Pope Francis waves as he arrives for his weekly general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday. The pope has been called on to resign over an archbishop’s allegations.