Joseph Strickland, 65 years old, criticized the Church’s approach to the LGBTQIA+ community; Joe Vasquez, Bishop of Austin, was named
Pope Francis dismissed Joseph Strickland, 65, bishop of Texas in the USA. The priest is critical of the current pontiff. At the beginning of the year, the Vatican sent two bishops to the city to investigate the bishop’s conduct.
“The Holy Father removed Joseph E. Strickland from the pastoral government of the diocese of Tyler (United States)”says the statement issued by the Vatican this Saturday (11.nov.2023). Francis appointed the bishop of Austin, also in the USA, to take on the role. Read the complete in Italian (PDF – 118 kB)
The pope’s measure is rare, because bishops are generally reassigned to other churches.
Strickland criticized the Pope’s attempt to bring the Church closer to the LGBTQIA+ community. Furthermore, he rejected decisions to hand over responsibilities to people outside the institution’s hierarchy, according to the news agency Reuters.
In a post published on his website in September, Bishop Strickland denied that he would resign from his position but stated that he would respect Pope Francis’ authority if he removed him from Tyler.
#Pope #dismisses #bishop #critical #pontificate