Carlo Maria Viganò, an archbishop that was excommunicated by Pope Francis, in a new letter addressed to American voters wrote that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, “obeys Satan.”
“In this election you must choose between two radically opposed ways of conceiving the government of your Nation: you are called to choose between democracy and dictatorship, between freedom and slavery,” Viganò wrote in a Tuesday letter.
Viganò, who once served as the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, wrote that former President Donald Trump “who, despite serious problems in his positions…has as his objective the common good and the protection of the fundamental freedoms of citizens.”
The former archbishop added that in Trump’s America, “every Catholic can practice their faith and educate their children” without state interference.
Viganò wrote that Harris “promotes everything that directly opposes the Faith and Morals of the Catholic Church.”
“In Kamala Harris’ America, Catholics – but also Protestants – are considered fundamentalists to be marginalized and eliminated, and their children are considered the property of the State, which arrogates to itself the right to lead them astray from an early age in both body and soul,” his letter reads. “Trump’s America can become great and prosperous again. Harris’ America is destined for invasion and for moral, social, and economic destruction: the most ferocious dictatorship.”
Viganò also shared his concerns that cities have become full of criminals, drug dealers and sex workers and that schools indoctrinate children from kindergarten onwards.
“In these four disastrous years of the Biden-Harris administration, we have had a puppet in the White House and a corrupt and incompetent Vice President who has never stopped lying and deceiving voters about her past and her future,” Viganò wrote.
He continued: “The choice is between a conservative President, who is paying with his very life for his fight against the deep state, and an infernal monster who obeys Satan. For a Catholic, there can be no question: voting for Kamala Harris is morally inadmissible and constitutes a very grave sin. Nor is it morally possible to abstain, because in this war declaring oneself neutral means allying oneself with the enemy.”
Newsweek reached out to the Trump and Harris campaign for comment via email.
The letter comes months after Viganò was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for “schism,” which is defined as breaking communion with the Pope and those who submit to him.
In July, Viganò was found guilty of schism due to his “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,” the Vatican’s doctrine office said at the time.
Over the last decade or so, Viganò has written letters expressing concerns over corruption inside the Vatican. This included allegations of sexual abuse, with Viganò previously writing that a “lavender mafia” of gay priests controlled the Catholic Church.
He also alleged the Pope allowed former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to serve the church for five years after finding out about his history of sex abuse.
During Pope Francis’ tenure, the church has increasingly accepted same-sex couples as well as divorced couples. The Pope has also publicly spoken about climate change and inequality on a global scale, but it sometimes caused a rift between more traditional leaders in the church.
Pope Francis has also removed openly conservative critics in the church in the United States, including Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland.
Newsweek has also reached out to the Pope for comment via email.
While Viganò may have urged Catholics to vote in the upcoming election, a study from Arizona Christian University (ACU) that was published earlier this month found 102 million people of faith likely will abstain from voting in November. That includes 32 million Christians who routinely attend church.
During a speech last week in New York City at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, Trump claimed he was “leading big” among Catholic voters, but it is unclear what statistics support his statement.
“All polls are indicating I’m leading big with the Catholic vote, as I should be. As I should be,” the former president said.
The Al Smith dinner, named for the nation’s first Catholic presidential candidate, is considered a highlight of the election campaign. Harris was not at the annual gala this year as she was on the campaign trail. However, she appeared via video link in a sketch alongside comedian Molly Shannon, who portrayed her Saturday Night Live character, Mary Katherine Gallagher, a Catholic schoolgirl.
What the Polls Show Among Catholic Voters
In a recent poll by National Catholic Reporter, Trump was ahead by 5 percentage points in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. While Trump led by 16 percentage points among white Catholic voters, the data showed that seven out of 10 Hispanic Catholics and more than three-quarters of Black Catholics preferred Harris.
The survey was based on the responses of 1,172 Catholic voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin between October 3 and 8. The margin of error was 2.86 percent.
Data from last month by Pew Research showed similar results. In a survey conducted from August to September, Pew found Catholic respondents overall were likelier to vote for Trump “if the 2024 presidential election were held today,” leading by five percentage points. However, the results split significantly between subgroups, with 61 percent of white Catholics picking Trump and 65 percent of Hispanic Catholics choosing Harris.
Conversely, the same month, EWTN News/RealClear Opinion Research showed a Harris lead among Catholic voters polled, with 50 percent supporting her compared to 43 percent for Trump and 6 percent undecided.
Other data suggests Trump’s lead among Catholics may have declined since President Joe Biden stood down as the Democratic presidential candidate. Pew Research from April found Trump had voter support among 55 percent of Catholic respondents. This fell to 52 percent in Pew’s September 2024 survey.
Written by Suzanne Blake for Newsweek, October 24, 2024