Pope Francis removed Bishop Joseph Strickland from his office in Tyler, Texas, on Saturday.
Strickland, 65, was bishop over the Diocese since 2012, when Pope Benedict gave him that office, but clashed with Francis in various views. The bishop disagreed with Francis’s seemingly changing attitude toward the LGBT community, and opportunities given to lay people within the church. He, at one point, claimed he rejected Francis’s “program undermining the Deposit of Faith” in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The account he used to make the post is no longer active, as Strickland posts from a separate account.
SOCIAL SECURITY UPDATE: SECOND ROUND OF DIRECT PAYMENTS WORTH UP TO $4,555 ARRIVES IN FOUR DAYS
An investigation against Strickland was launched earlier this year by Camden, New Jersey, Bishop Dennis Sullivan and Tuscon, Arizona, Bishop Emeritus Gerald Kicanas. The two recommended “to the Holy Father that the continuation in office of Bishop Strickland was not feasible,” according to a statement from Galveston-Houston archbishop Cardinal Daniel DiNardo. However, DiNardo did not give the reason that the two came to that conclusion.
“After months of careful consideration by the Dicastery for Bishops and the Holy Father, the decision was reached that the resignation of Bishop Strickland should be requested,” DiNardo wrote. “Having been presented with that request on Nov. 9, 2023, Bishop Strickland declined to resign from office. Thereafter, on Nov. 11, 2023, the Holy Father removed Bishop Strickland from the Office of Bishop of Tyler.”
The move is unique, as Francis has rarely removed any bishops from their diocese despite numerous allegations. Strickland was 10 years away from retiring at the time of his removal, yet, as retired Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò pointed out in a post to X, others facing more serious accusations remain in their offices. Viganò, who in 2018 called for Francis’s resignation, said the examples of Rev. Marco Rupnik, who has allegedly sexually and psychologically abused women, and fellow Texas Bishop Michael Olson, who is facing a lawsuit from nuns of improper search and seizure, stand out from Strickland.
The removal of His Excellency Archbishop Joseph Strickland, especially after the failure to ambush him with the Apostolic Visitation, appears as a cowardly form of authoritarianism, which in no way fits with Bergoglio’s rants about “welcoming” and “inclusiveness.”
Seeing the… pic.twitter.com/7bp2AxpK2D
— Arcivescovo Carlo Maria Viganò (@CarloMVigano) November 11, 2023
“[Mean]while one of the few faithful Bishops is persecuted and kicked out for no reason shows us in all its arrogance the tyranny of the Argentine Jesuit,” Viganò wrote. “A tyranny that is even more scandalous to the faithful due to the fact that the majority of the Pastors are silent out of cowardice or complicity.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
I want to make sure we don’t lose sight of who is among the top of the pyramid of the globalist elite trying to take over the world by first destroying it then “building it back better” in their image.
One of those at the very top is @Pontifex (Pope Francis).
His recent…
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) November 11, 2023
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn applauded Strickland for “standing up for the catholic faith” while lamenting that he “is being punished for promoting & protecting the faith of his flock in Tyler.” Strickland is known to be a supporter of former president Donald Trump, Flynn’s former boss.
Now Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin, Texas, will function as the apostolic administrator in Strickland’s absence.
