Vatican Metropolis:
Pope Francis has dismissed Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, one in all his fiercest critics amongst US Roman Catholic conservatives, a Vatican assertion stated on Saturday.
It is rather uncommon for a bishop to be relieved of his duties outright. Normally bishops in bother with the Vatican are requested to resign earlier than submitting a resignation, which the pope accepts.
Popes make such strikes, thought of drastic, when a bishop refuses a request to resign. Strickland is 65, 10 years shy of the same old retirement age for bishops. Strickland had stated earlier this yr that he would refuse to resign if requested.
Strickland, a prolific person of social media who was named to the diocese by the late Pope Benedict in 2012, tweeted earlier this yr that he rejected Pope Francis’ “program undermining the Deposit of Faith”.
He has been significantly crucial of the pope’s try and make the Church extra welcoming to the LGBT neighborhood and makes an attempt by Francis to provide lay folks extra accountability within the Church and opposed a current synod.
The dismissal adopted a Vatican investigation earlier this yr into the administration of the Tyler diocese, which Catholic media experiences stated included a evaluate of his dealing with of economic affairs.
It was introduced concurrently by the Vatican and the US Bishops Convention. Neither assertion gave a purpose.
There was no quick response from Strickland. A recording on the diocese’s phone stated they had been closed for the weekend.
Strickland had change into probably the most vocal customary bearers of the ultra-conservative wing of the US Church and has a nationwide following far past the small diocese of Tyler in japanese Texas.
Final August, the pope lamented what he known as a “reactionary” Catholic Church in the USA, the place he stated political ideology had changed religion in some circumstances.
Strickland is a robust supporter of former US president Donald Trump and is seen as a hero by conservative US Catholic media shops which are aligned with Trump.
Final yr, when the Vatican defrocked ultra-conservative US. anti-abortion priest Frank Pavone for “blasphemous” social media posts and disobedience to bishops, Strickland was one of many few American bishops to defend him publicly.
“The blasphemy is that this holy priest is canceled while an evil president promotes the denial of truth and the murder of the unborn at every turn, Vatican officials promote immorality and denial of the deposit of faith and priests promote gender confusion devastating lives…evil,” Strickland wrote on the platform then often called Twitter.
The Vatican stated Francis named the bishop of Austin, Texas, Joe Vasquez, because the interim administrator of the Tyler diocese.
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