A former Vatican official known for his opposition to LGBT rights has accused Pope Francis of heresy for promoting the “legitimization of homosexuality.”

In a recent interview with Italian media, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano claimed that the Holy Father is promoting homosexuality as part of a plot to “corrupt” the Roman Catholic Church.

“For Bergoglio and his entourage, sodomy is not a sin that cries out for vengeance in the presence of God, as the Catechism teaches,” Vigano said, referring to the pope by his given name of Jorge Bergoglio.

“Begoglio's words on this topic – and even more the actions and words of hose who surround him – unfortunately confirm that an operation of legitimization of homosexuality is currently underway,” Newsweek quoted Vigano as saying.

"Let's not forget that the legitimization of homosexuality is part of the agenda of the New World Order – to which the Bergoglian church adheres openly and unconditionally," he said. "Not only for its destabilizing value in the social body, but also because sodomy is the principal instrument with which the Enemy intends to destroy the Catholic priesthood, corrupting the souls of the Ministers of God."

Vigano also used the term “deep church” to describe a “gay lobby” that is working to undermine the church. The “heresy, sodomy, and corruption” are trademarks of “the deep state and the deep church,” he said.

The “deep state” is a conspiracy theory that claims a secret order within the U.S. government is working against President Donald Trump.

Vigano in 2015 arranged a controversial meeting between Pope Francis and Kim Davis, the former Kentucky clerk who fought to keep her office from issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws and constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriage. The Vatican denied assertions from Davis' lawyer that the pope had personally requested the meeting. Francis accepted Vigano's resignation from his diplomatic post in April 2016.