Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was apostolic nuncio in the United States and subsequently excommunicated by Francis in 2024, has published some Vatican documents with which he denounces the cancellation of an audience with Pope Leo XIV, as he explained in a message disseminated on March 19 on his X account.
Among the disseminated documents is a letter from the Prefecture of the Papal Household, dated September 20, 2025, in which it is confirmed that the Pontiff would receive him in a private audience on December 11 of that same year in the Apostolic Palace.
Official confirmation of the audience
In the letter, signed by the regent of the Papal Household, Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, the formal granting of the previously requested audience was communicated to Viganò.
Likewise, the prelate has published the official access ticket to the audience, issued by the same Prefecture, in which the date, time, and place of the meeting are detailed.
Cancellation two days before the meeting
Along with these documents, Viganò has also disseminated a second official letter, dated December 9, 2025, in which the Prefecture communicated the cancellation of the audience “due to an unforeseen change in the Holy Father’s commitments.” That same day, he received contradictory communications from the Prefecture: after the cancellation, the access ticket was sent to him, only for the annulment of the meeting to be confirmed again later.
An ex-nuncio excommunicated in conflict with Rome
Carlo Maria Viganò, former apostolic nuncio in the United States, was excommunicated in 2024 following a canonical process in which he was accused of schism due to his repeated criticisms of Francis’s pontificate and his rejection of the Pope’s authority.
Since then, the prelate has maintained an openly confrontational stance toward the Holy See, questioning various doctrinal and disciplinary decisions, as well as the legitimacy of the sanctions imposed against him.
The archbishop claims that, after the cancellation, he was assured that the audience would be rescheduled, which ultimately did not happen. In the following months, he says he made new attempts to obtain a meeting with the Pope, without receiving any response.
In this context, Viganò also turned to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, who—according to his testimony—acknowledged the difficulties for the Pontiff to agree to receive him in the current situation.
Criticism of the excommunication
In his message, Viganò once again questions the legitimacy of his excommunication, describing it as unjust and comparing it to a form of total exclusion.
His denunciation exposes that the sanction deprives him of the sacraments, which he describes as a “spiritual death sentence,” while insisting on his intention to personally expose his situation to the Pope without being able to access an audience to do so.