FILE PHOTO: Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano speaks during a pro-life youth Mass at the Verizon Center in Washington, U.S., January 22, 2015. REUTERS/Gregory A. Shemitz/File Photo
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a fierce ultra-conservative critic of Pope Francis, has been found guilty of schism and excommunicated, the Vatican's doctrinal office said on Friday.
Vigano, the papal envoy in Washington from 2011-2016, went into hiding in 2018 after alleging that the pope knew for years about sexual misconduct by U.S Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and did nothing about it.
He said the pope should resign and subsequently branded him a "false prophet" and a "servant of Satan".
The Vatican rejected the accusation of a cover-up of sexual misconduct and last month summoned Vigano to answer charges of schism and denying the pope's legitimacy.
In a statement on Friday, the doctrinal office said his refusal to recognize and submit to Pope Francis was clear from his public statements.
"At the conclusion of the penal process, the Most Reverend Carlo Maria Vigano was found guilty of the reserved delict (violation of the law) of schism," the statement said, adding that he had been excommunicated, or banished, from the Church.
The archbishop was informed of the decision on Friday, the Vatican dicastery said. Its statement did not mention the pope, but it is highly unlikely that the punishment was meted out without Francis' approval.
Vigano, who mostly communicates via the X social network, did not immediately react. Last week, he said he had refused to take part in the disciplinary proceedings because he did not accept the legitimacy of the institutions behind it.
"I do not recognize the authority of the tribunal that claims to judge me, nor of its Prefect, nor of the one who appointed him," he said, referring to the head of the doctrinal office, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, and to Francis.
In a lengthy text, Vigano referred to the pope only by his surname, "Bergoglio", and accused him of representing an "inclusive, immigrationist, eco-sustainable, and gay-friendly" Church that had strayed from its true message.
Francis has angered many conservatives by making overtures towards divorcees and the LGBT community, and by saying that mercy and forgiveness should come before the strict enforcement of Catholic doctrine.
The pope has also put himself at odds with conservatives and traditionalists by championing migrant rights and the fight against climate change, and condemning the excesses of capitalism.
Last year, Francis took action against another arch-conservative critic from the U.S., dismissing Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, after he refused to step down voluntarily following a Vatican investigation.
(This story has been refiled to fix a typo in paragraph 11)
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Crispian Balmer, editing by Gavin Jones and Angus MacSwan)
