IS THE NEW YORK TIMES TURNING ON POPE FRANCIS???????

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò released an explosive letter that called for the resignations of Francis and a slew of other church leaders.CreditGregory A. Shemitz/Reuters

READ THE FULL NEW YORK TIMES STORY HERE!

This is an excerpt:

The Viganò letter has pitted Francis against Benedict XVI, the emeritus pope, who stepped down in 2013 — confirming the worst fears of Catholics who warned that having two popes living as neighbors in the small, intrigue-laden footprint of Vatican City would be dangerous to the church.

Both popes could clear up the confusion created by the letter. Neither one has.

The silence has left a vacuum into which speculation, gossip and ideological combat have now poured, consuming the Vatican and Francis’ pontificate and drowning out the issue of child sexual abuse, a scourge that is devouring his church from within.

Archbishop Viganò has filled the vacuum with fresh allegations against Pope Francis on sensitive topics such as the pontiff’s 2015 meeting with Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

The archbishop argued in another detailed letter published on Friday in conservative Roman Catholic news outlets that he had personally briefed the pope about the meeting beforehand and that the Vatican’s efforts to characterize him as ambushing the pope with the meeting were untrue.