By Thomas M. Loarie

BOOK REVIEW: Finding Vigano: The Man Behind the Testimony that Shook the Church and the World

April 25, 2021
Column: CEO Learnings

Just who is this Archbishop Carlo Vigano?

Who is this man who released a Testimony that shook the Catholic Church and the World? Who is this man who wrote two open letters to former President Trump—one before and one after the 2016 election—in which he warned we were witnessing the formation of two opposing forces. Who is this man who further wrote that these two forces were the children of light and the children of darkness, and which he called biblical.

“The children of darkness,” wrote Archbishop Vigano, “do not hold any moral principles, want to demolish the family, exploit workers to make themselves unduly wealthy, foment internal divisions and wars, and accumulate power and money.”

Many love him, many condemn him.

As Vigano’s fame and reputation grew in recent years, TAN Books, a Catholic publisher, decided to find out more about Vigano and initiated a search to learn more about the man himself, the facts, and his opinions. By this time, Archbishop Carlo Vigano had into hiding.  Nonetheless, TAN contacted Dr. Robert Moynihan, the founder and editor-in-chief of Inside the Vatican magazine. TAN trusted Dr. Moynihan to find Archbishop Vigano and to shed light on the man and on the difficult issues he raised.

Moynihan, at 84 years old, remains one of our generation’s most respected journalists covering the Catholic Church. A brilliant, compelling and clear writer, he is widely respected throughout the world for his orthodoxy, his love for the Church, and for his fair-mindedness. More than that, through his many years of networking and reporting for his magazine, he understands the Vatican’s “inside baseball” exceptionally well.

Finding Vigano: The Man Behind the Testimony that Shook the Church and the World is the resulting TAN book, and it is well worth reading!

In “Finding Vigano,” Moynihan uses a journalistic approach as he provides a partial biography of Archbishop Vigano, the context for the “Testimony,” and a detailed 120-page analysis of the Testimony that outlines (1) the cover-up of sexual abuse by Cardinal McCarrick and others, and (2) the systematic abuse of power within the Vatican. Archbishop Vigano, as a Vatican insider and then after being sent to the United States as the papal ambassador, witnessed both.

A culture of cover-up

In his Testimony, Archbishop Vigano raised serious issues and called out those he sees as apostates within the Church.

It concerns a “culture of cover-up,” as Vigano puts it, a “brotherhood of silence,” that has for decades “grown like a clinging vine around the heart of the church, even in the Vatican, or perhaps better, especially in the Vatican.”

In-person interviews with Archbishop Vigano

The last half of the book covers face-to-face meetings Moynihan had with Vigano, reporting Vigano’s thoughts on what is at stake for Catholics, the role of Fatherhood in the world and in the Church, the existence of hope during crisis, as well as Vigano’s increasing concerns about Pope Francis.

“Finding Vigano” deals with the terrible reality of young people being sexually abused by the clergy. It exposes human sin and its consequences, the desire of the sinner to deny culpability, to escape punishment, and to deny that harm was ever caused or intended.

This is a story of hardened hearts, broken hearts and of the broken bonds of trust…a story of spiritual fathers who failed to find a way to guide and protect children, and who instead abandoned and even abused children.

It is a story of spiritual fathers who failed the trust given them to serve as shepherds within the Body of Christ.

Throughout, Archbishop Vigano is transparent and speaks about how various lobbies of corrupt men have exploited and betrayed the Church in recent decades and how he had fought them valiantly but, in the end, in vain.

The Archbishop is currently in hiding while others who are part of the cabal remain unaccountable and continue in prominent and powerful roles.

This is a book for all Catholics who have become increasingly concerned with the deception and misinformation that has come from those who promised transparency.

This is a book that challenges how those with knowledge of the truth can remain silent.

This is a book that asks what happened to the Catholic Church?  What has happened to the Jesuit Order? And how had it come to this?

Why had Benedict chosen to go into hiding, living a “hidden life” in a small convent in the Vatican Gardens?

What led to Vigano’s denunciation of Pope Francis in his call for Francis’s resignation?

And what was the real reason for Pope Francis choosing to live in the guesthouse instead of the Papal apartments?
Were John Paul II and Benedict greatly deficient in all these areas?

“Finding Vigano” did not end Moynihan’s journey but began one that continues to this day. He has promised us another book.

I look forward to learning more.

The Truth will set all of us free. Archbishop Vigano is the one man, a very lonely man, in the church’s leadership who has been willing to pay the price to “tell the truth” about the abuse, the cover-ups and the corruption in the Church.  He has brought forth the healing light of truth which had become hidden, veiled, and obscured.

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View Articles Thomas M. Loarie is a popular host of The Mentors Radio Show, the founder and CEO of BryoLogyx Inc. (BryoLogyx.com), and a seasoned corporate... MORE »

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