NICOLE WINFIELD
Sat, November 11, 2023
Bishop Joseph Strickland walks in front of a reliquary bearing the bones of Saint Maria Goretti, dubbed "The Little Saint of Great Mercy," into the sanctuary at Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Monday, Nov. 2, 2015, in Tyler, Texas. Pope Francis on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023 forcibly removed from office the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a conservative active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and some of his priorities.
(Andrew D. Brosig/Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP, File)
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday forcibly removed from office the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a conservative active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and some of his priorities.
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 critic of Francis, accusing him in a tweet earlier this year of “undermining the deposit of faith.” He has been particularly critical of Francis' recent meeting on the future of the Catholic Church during which hot-button issues were discussed, including ways to better welcome LGBTQ+ Catholics.
The Vatican earlier this year sent in investigators to look into his governance of the diocese, amid reports he was making doctrinally unorthodox claims.
The Vatican has not released the findings of the investigation, and Strickland had insisted he wouldn't resign voluntarily. He had said in media interviews that he was given a mandate to serve by the late Pope Benedict XVI and couldn't abdicate that responsibility, and had complained that he hadn't been told what the pope's investigators were looking into.
It is rare for the pope to forcibly remove a bishop from office. Bishops are required to offer to resign when they reach 75. When the Vatican uncovers issues with governance or other problems that require a bishop to leave office before then, the Vatican usually seeks to pressure him to resign for the good of his diocese and the church.
That was the case when another U.S. bishop was forced out earlier this year following a Vatican investigation. Knoxville, Tenn. Bishop Richard Stika resigned voluntarily, albeit under pressure, following allegations he mishandled sex abuse allegations, and his priests complained about his leadership and behavior.
But with Strickland, the Vatican statement made clear he had not offered to resign, and that Francis had instead "relieved" him from his job.
Most recently, Strickland had criticized Francis’ monthlong closed-door debate on making the church more welcoming and responsive to the needs of Catholics today. The meeting debated a host of previously taboo issues, including women in governance roles and welcoming LGBTQ+ Catholics, but in the end, its final document didn’t veer from established doctrine.
Ahead of the meeting, Strickland said it was a “travesty” that such things were even on the table for discussion.
”Regrettably, it may be that some will label as schismatics those who disagree with the changes being proposed,” Strickland wrote in a public letter in August. “Instead, those who would propose changes to that which cannot be changed seek to commandeer Christ’s Church, and they are indeed the true schismatics.”
There was no immediate comment from the diocese, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops merely posted an English translation of the Vatican statement with data about the size of the diocese.
In a social media post sent a few hours before the Vatican’s noon announcement, Strickland wrote a prayer about Christ being the “way, the truth and the life, yesterday, today and forever.”
Pope on collision course with US bishops after saying trans people can be baptised
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday forcibly removed from office the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a conservative active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and some of his priorities.
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 critic of Francis, accusing him in a tweet earlier this year of “undermining the deposit of faith.” He has been particularly critical of Francis' recent meeting on the future of the Catholic Church during which hot-button issues were discussed, including ways to better welcome LGBTQ+ Catholics.
The Vatican earlier this year sent in investigators to look into his governance of the diocese, amid reports he was making doctrinally unorthodox claims.
The Vatican has not released the findings of the investigation, and Strickland had insisted he wouldn't resign voluntarily. He had said in media interviews that he was given a mandate to serve by the late Pope Benedict XVI and couldn't abdicate that responsibility, and had complained that he hadn't been told what the pope's investigators were looking into.
It is rare for the pope to forcibly remove a bishop from office. Bishops are required to offer to resign when they reach 75. When the Vatican uncovers issues with governance or other problems that require a bishop to leave office before then, the Vatican usually seeks to pressure him to resign for the good of his diocese and the church.
That was the case when another U.S. bishop was forced out earlier this year following a Vatican investigation. Knoxville, Tenn. Bishop Richard Stika resigned voluntarily, albeit under pressure, following allegations he mishandled sex abuse allegations, and his priests complained about his leadership and behavior.
But with Strickland, the Vatican statement made clear he had not offered to resign, and that Francis had instead "relieved" him from his job.
Most recently, Strickland had criticized Francis’ monthlong closed-door debate on making the church more welcoming and responsive to the needs of Catholics today. The meeting debated a host of previously taboo issues, including women in governance roles and welcoming LGBTQ+ Catholics, but in the end, its final document didn’t veer from established doctrine.
Ahead of the meeting, Strickland said it was a “travesty” that such things were even on the table for discussion.
”Regrettably, it may be that some will label as schismatics those who disagree with the changes being proposed,” Strickland wrote in a public letter in August. “Instead, those who would propose changes to that which cannot be changed seek to commandeer Christ’s Church, and they are indeed the true schismatics.”
There was no immediate comment from the diocese, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops merely posted an English translation of the Vatican statement with data about the size of the diocese.
In a social media post sent a few hours before the Vatican’s noon announcement, Strickland wrote a prayer about Christ being the “way, the truth and the life, yesterday, today and forever.”
Pope on collision course with US bishops after saying trans people can be baptised
James Crisp
Thu, November 9, 2023
The Pontiff has welcomed LGBT people to the Church without changing religious teachings - GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE/REUTERS
Transgender people can be baptised into the Catholic Church and be godparents and witnesses at weddings, Pope Francis has said, putting himself on a collision course with US bishops.
The Vatican decreed that a transgender person could be baptised as long as there was “no risk of causing a public scandal or disorientation among the faithful”.
The pontiff, 86, has tried to make the Church more welcoming to LGBT people without changing religious teachings, including one saying that same-sex attraction is not sinful but same-sex acts are.
“Even if we are sinners, He draws near to help us. The Lord loves us as we are, this is God’s crazy love,” he told a transgender person in July.
A same-sex couple could have an adopted child or one obtained through a surrogate mother baptised if there was “a well-founded hope that it would be educated in the Catholic religion”, the Vatican said.
Transgender people could be godparents at a baptism as well as a witness at a Church wedding, at the discretion of the local priest, who should exercise “pastoral prudence” in his decision.
The decree contradicts a 2015 Vatican ruling, which barred a transgender man in Spain from becoming a godparent.
Asked if a person in a same-sex relationship could be a godparent, the Vatican said that person had to “lead a life that conforms to the faith”.
The doctrinal office said a person in a same-sex relationship could also be a witness at a Catholic wedding, citing current Church legislation which contained no prohibition against it.
Rejected concept of gender transition
The decree could prove controversial in the United States, where the national conference of Catholic bishops has rejected the concept of gender transition.
The bishops issued guidelines to stop Catholic hospitals from providing gender-affirming care.
Some US dioceses have policies banning the use of pronouns matching transgender identities at Catholic institutions and transgender teachers have been fired from Catholic schools.
Pope Francis has previously said it was an “honour” to be attacked by US Conservatives. In August, he attacked the “backwardness” of some “reactionary” US Catholics.
He accused them of replacing faith with ideology in August and said doctrine was allowed to change over time.
Bishop Jose Negri of Santo Amaro in Brazil had sent the Vatican’s Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith six questions in July regarding LGBT people and their participation in baptism and matrimony.
The Pope approved the answers on Oct 31, which were published online on Wednesday.
“This is an important step forward in the Church seeing transgender people not only as people (in a Church where some say they don’t really exist) but as Catholics,” said Father James Martin, a prominent Jesuit priest and supporter of LGBT rights in the Church.
“It is a major step for trans inclusion … it is big and good news,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of Maryland-based New Ways Ministry, which advocates for greater LGBT inclusion.
Most Catholics are baptised as children so the practical impact of the decree will be limited because of the smaller transgender community and smaller numbers of baptism later in life.
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