Letter #34, Thursday, November 5, 2020: No Clarity

    No Clarity

    As I write on November 5 at 5 p.m., the final result of the US presidential election remains in doubt.

    Almost two full days have passed since the closing of the polls on November 3.

    Millions do believe it is “clear” now that Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden has in fact defeated incumbent President Donald Trump.

    Yet, millions of others are still in doubt, wondering if the results are really honest… if there has not been, perhaps, some deep corruption in the election process.

    I do not know for a fact that there was any such deep corruption. I do think it was odd that vote counting in several states stopped shortly after midnight on election night. I do not recall this ever happening before in a US election. It seemed unique to me.

    The explanation, some say, is that in this election there were massive numbers of mail-in ballots — more than any previous election. And this huge number is attributed to the Coronavirus — people were encouraged to vote from home, and not go personally to the polls, to avoid any chance of contagion. And evidently voters did this by the millions.

    This fact alone, however — that these numbers of mail-in ballots were unprecedented — suggests that this election may have been more vulnerable to some type of voter fraud than other, previous elections — because this was the first election ever held under such circumstances.

    From a Catholic perspective, all democratic processes are to a certain extent “relative.” There is nothing “de fide” about any election procedures.

    But within a democracy, according to the rules of a democracy, with all the possible imperfections and confusions of such rules, still, all citizens have an interest in arriving at clarity about how the final vote total was reached, and whether it was fair.

    How many citizens actually voted? How many ballots were actually cast? Were all the votes counted correctly? Was there anything improper about the process of voting, or the process of counting the votes?

    The interest of the “common good” is that the procedures governing the voting process, whatever they may be, are followed in a clear and open way, without trickery or deceit on any side.

    As of today, the two days of counting suggests that there is something especially complicated about this process this year. There is, as yet, no clarity about the true course of that complication.

    In the interest of the “common good,” it seems reasonable to bring clarity to all of the present questions being raised about this election, even if it would take a bit more time.

    Then, with the results tabulated, and published, the nation should strive to be reconciled, recognizing that tens of millions voted one way and tens of millions another way. In such circumstances, there is no massive, overwhelming “mandate” for either candidate.

    The goal, therefore, should be to arrive as close as possible to the “common good”: to that state of domestic tranquillity that provides a context within which all members of society can work out their personal salvation, under a splendid national Constitution set up by wise men who foresaw the necessity to restrain arbitrary power by wise measures, separating and balancing the powers of government, allowing the greatest possible chance for freedom and justice for all.

    I would like to invite all readers to join me on one of our occasional Writer’s Chats, on November 13, next Friday, to discuss my book on Archbishop Viganò. The discussion is easy to join and is free. There will be time for questions and discussion. Click here to sign up, and you will be sent a code to enter by email before the meeting. – RM

Archbishop Viganò Speaks Out on the American Election

    On November 4, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò continued his mission of “girding the loins” of the faithful, a faithful which, in many cases, have been abandoned by their local pastors who have not confirmed them in the faith . . . for decades in most cases.

    Viganò’s latest exhortation calls upon “American Catholics and all Americans of good will” to pray in this time of national electoral crisis.

    Have your children pray, using the holy words that you have taught them: those confident prayers will rise to God and will not remain unheard. Have the elderly and sick pray, so that they may offer their sufferings in union with the sufferings that Our Lord suffered on the Cross when he shed His Precious Blood for Our Redemption. Have young ladies and women pray, so that they turn to her who is the model of purity and motherhood. And you, men, must also pray: your courage, your honor and your boldness will be refreshed and strengthened.

    The good archbishop knows that the hour is late. No stranger to expressing uncomfortable truths, he writes:

    News of electoral fraud is multiplying, despite the shameful attempts of the mainstream media to censor the truth of the facts in order to give their candidate the advantage. There are states in which the number of votes is greater than the number of voters; others in which the mail-in vote seems to be exclusively in favor of Joe Biden; others in which the counting of ballots has been suspended for no reason or where sensational tampering has been discovered: always and only against President Donald J. Trump, always and only in favor of Biden.

    Archbishop Viganò, as he has increasingly done since his first Testimony about the corruption in the Church, employs the language of an Old Testament prophet, calling to account both the malefactors of the day for their misdeeds as well as those on the side of the angels who perhaps, through cowardice or a misunderstanding of what true charity consists of, have remained silent until now.

    (Note: The following is a press release put out today by TAN books.)

    Catholics not familiar with Viganò as well as others who have followed his every utterance all stand to benefit by a new book published by TAN Books entitled Finding Vigano: The Man Behind the Testimony that Shook the Church and the World.

    In its pages, longtime Vatican insider Robert Moynihan brings to bear his vast experience in Rome and among curial figures to offer an analysis of Viganò’s first Testimony unlike any other.

    (Note: This takes on even greater importance given that Reuters (link) and others have just reported that the long-awaited Vatican “McCarrick Report” is due to be published during the month of November, and perhaps on November 11, in six days. (link) This imminent publication is not certain, but it is being widely reported by generally reliable outlets as the likely publication date.)

    But perhaps the most compelling aspect of the book is found in the in-person interviews with Viganò himself. If you want to understand who this man Viganò is, if you want to understand what makes him tick, if you want to understand what motivates him to make these dramatic statements and to employ such language in doing so, you need this book! It is unlike any other.

    Part thriller, part interview, part incisive analysis into the rot which is afflicting Christ’s Church today, Finding Viganò needs to be read by the exact audience to whom Viganò addressed this latest letter: American Catholics and All Americans of Good Will.

(End press release)

    Read the letter in its entirety below. It is available in English in a PDF by clicking here.