Posted on 02/03/2022 6:08:34 PM PST by marshmallow
ROME, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Italy's national Catholic military chaplain has hit back at a renegade, vaccine-denying archbishop, accusing him of inciting insubordination among the armed forces and police over their role in enforcing COVID-19 laws.
The national chaplain, Archbishop Santo Marciano, issued a statement to all military and law enforcement personnel on Monday night, hours after Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano made a statement urging them to disobey orders and not be "automatons".
Vigano, a former Vatican ambassador in Washington, has been in hiding for more than three years since issuing a broadside against Pope Francis, demanding his resignation.
He is against vaccines and has said the virus was produced in a lab as part of a global plot to erase Christian identity in the West.
Right-wing Catholic outlets, blogs and websites carrying his statements have been shut down by social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for spreading COVID disinformation.
"They have used you as automatons," Vigano said in his appeal to the military and police. "Expecting you to show blind and irrational obedience to a power that is increasingly authoritarian, repressive and tyrannical."
He told them that saying "I was following orders" would not be sufficient, just as it was not at war crime trials of Nazis after World War Two.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.