Former papal nuncio to the US and
foremost critic of Pope Francis, Msg Carlo Maria Viganò, told
Italian TV Tuesday night that "COVID does not exist" and the
media had covered up "systematic" lies about its existence,
prompting the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Msrg
Vincenzo Paglia, to say that "those who deny the pandemic deny
the fact that the world has dramatically and deeply changed in
the last two years and we need a profound economic, political.
social, and moral renewal to provide justice, access to
healthcare, starting from the vaccines, and guaranteeing
safeguards for life all round".
Viganò went so far as to write a letter to the US Bishops
Conference last week distancing himself from the Vatican's
pro-vaccine drive and saying that the vaccination campaign was
"satanic action against God".
Several US cardinals, including other leading critics of the
pope, are anti-vaxxers.
They include Raymond Burke who wound up in an ICU with COVID
after refusing the vaccine.
Paglia said "we have had over 130,000 deaths (from COVID) in
Italy, and several million in the world. The world economy is in
very great difficulty, hundreds of thousands of people have lost
their jobs. How can you say that the pandemic does not exist?"
Top Italian journalists Bruno Vespa and Massimo Giannini were
also dismayed at Viganò's words, with RAI host Vespa saying "may
God forgive him" and La Stampa editor Giannini calling him a
"rogue".
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