archbishop carlo maria vigano – Madison Catholic Herald Archive (2001-2025)

The announcement that Archbishop Christophe Pierre will succeed Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò as Apostolic Nuncio to the United States is an opportunity to pay tribute to a courageous churchman who has served Catholicism, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis in an exemplary way during his tenure in Washington.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with each of the nuncios in Washington since full diplomatic relations were established between this country and the Holy See under President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.

And at the risk of embarrassing him, I have to say that I consider Archbishop Viganò to have been the best of them all thus far.

Church living in midst of confrontation


	This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

Last week at the meeting of the Bishops’ Conference in Baltimore, our Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who serves as the personal representative of Pope Francis in the United States, addressed us bishops on behalf of Pope Francis.

In the first place, I thought it was interesting that a great deal of his address to us was focused on quotations from Pope Paul VI and Blessed John Paul the Great.

This is a sure sign that Pope Francis wishes to be seen in continuity with his venerable predecessors, a fact which he made clear recently as he affirmed Archbishop Agostino Marchetto’s account of the hermeneutic of continuity as a proper interpretive key for the Second Vatican Council.

But, I want to focus on one particular thought that Archbishop Viganò raised.

Catholics must be vigilant to protect religious freedom

To the editor:

As Thanksgiving Day passes into history, I was reminded this morning at Mass to give thanks to the Catholic martyrs who have died because of their resistance to anti-religious freedom laws. In particular this day, we remember Blessed Miguel Pro, a Jesuit priest in Mexico during the violent anti-Catholic persecutions in the 1920’s. On this day in 1927, he was taken to a police firing range and shot to death. His crime against the Mexican government was simply to minister to the Catholic people in their worship of Jesus Christ.

Mexico’s President Calles personally ordered Father Pro’s execution. Before the execution, Father Pro prayed, and then held out his arms in the form of a cross. As the police took aim with their rifles, he spoke the words, “Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King!”).

Father Pro was not alone in his opposition to religious persecution. According to some sources, more than 200,000 Mexican people from every socio-economic background were killed or martyred by 1930. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized 25 Catholic martyrs in Mexico, among them being Blessed Miguel Pro.