INTO THIN AIR

Archbishop Viganò, the Man Who Called for Pope’s Resignation, ‘Disappears’

Accused Francis of covering up sexual abuse among top U.S. clerics.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò—the man who sent shockwaves through the Catholic Church last week by accusing Pope Francis of covering up reports of sexual abuse among the U.S.’s church hierarchy and urging him to resign—has reportedly “disappeared.” Viganò, former chief Vatican diplomat in the United States, wrote the letter with the help of a conservative journalist last Wednesday. When it was released to the press Sunday, the archbishop took his leave, turned off his cellphone, and disappeared to a secret location for “his own security,” according to Marco Tosatti, the writer who helped him pen the letter. Meanwhile, Pope Francis, speaking Wednesday during his first public appearance at the Vatican after the accusations, lamented how Ireland’s church authorities failed to respond there to crimes of sexual abuse.