Pope Francis on Saturday ordered the removal of the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a conservative prelate active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and has come to symbolize the polarization within the US Catholic hierarchy.
A one-line statement from the Vatican said Francis had “relieved” Bishop Joseph Strickland of the pastoral governance of Tyler and appointed the bishop of Austin as the temporary administrator.
Strickland, 65, has emerged as a leading critic of Francis, accusing him on Twitter earlier this year of “undermining the deposit of faith.”
Photo: Kirby Lee-USA Today
He has been particularly critical of Francis’ recent meeting on the future of the Catholic Church during which issues such as ways to better welcome LGBTQ+ Catholics were discussed.
Earlier this year, the Vatican sent in investigators to look into his governance of the diocese, amid reports that priests and laypeople in Tyler had complained and that Strickland was making unorthodox claims.
The Vatican never released the findings and Strickland had insisted he would not resign voluntarily, saying that he was given a mandate to serve as bishop in 2012 by the late pope Benedict XVI.
Conservative Web site LifeSiteNews quoted Strickland as saying in an interview on Saturday that one of the reasons given for his ouster was his refusal to implement Francis’ 2021 restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass.
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