The statement contradicts Archbishop Viganò’s account of his meeting with the pope, in which he said Francis had never reproached him for organizing the meeting with Ms. Davis.

A Vatican source said: “The archbishop seems to have declared open war on Pope Francis and the Vatican.”

In the Vatican there are feelings of “bitter disappointment” and “restlessness.”

Cardinal Burke was among the first of a small number of bishops to come out in support of Viganò’s denunciation of the pope.

Sources close to the pope said that “he has no intention of resigning.”

Pope Francis said that he trusted people to make their own judgment on Archbishop Viganò's letter and that parents of gay children should "dialogue, understand, make room for that son or daughter."