(PartiallyPolitics.com) – On Saturday, Pope Francis ordered that a Texas town bishop would be removed.
Pastoral governance of the diocese of Tyler, Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland was removed by the Pope, and in his place, a temporary administrator was appointed. The Vatican News reported that Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin was appointed as the temporary administrator.
In the past few months, the 65-year-old Strickland has become increasingly critical of Francis and earlier this year even shared a post on X, formerly known as Twitter that the pope was “undermining the deposit of faith.”
Previously Strickland had referred to the church as “weak” in 2020 and had even dared the pope to have him fired. In that same year, he had supported a video that had been released in which it was argued that Catholics were not in a position to support Democrats in political elections.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Strickland had also put out repeated anti-vaccine messages and has often slammed President Biden for his support of abortion rights.
More recently a report from the Associated Press noted that Strickland had slammed Francis over a recent meeting that included an array of topics including the potential introduction of female deacons, the possibility for married men to get access to priesthood, and the integration of LGBTQ Catholics.
In June Francis had instructed two American bishops to conduct an apostolic visitation to the Texas bishop after many people complained about the unorthodox remarks that Strickland was making. Strickland was later requested to resign from office but refused, which led to Francis having to remove him.
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