Pope Francis has removed a popular conservative Bishop of a small Texas town, Bishop Joseph Strickland. One reason cited is that he has constantly criticized Pope Francis in the past months. He also criticizes Joe Biden. There was an investigation by two bishops Pope Francis selected but the results were not released.
It’s a very rare move. He immediately replaced him with Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin.
According to an interview in the conservative website LifeSiteNews, Strickland believed one of the reasons given for his ouster was his refusal to implement Francis’ 2021 restrictions on the use of traditional Latin Mass.
Last year, when the Vatican defrocked ultra-conservative U.S. priest Frank Pavone for “blasphemous” social media posts and disobedience to bishops, Strickland had defended him publicly.
On Saturday, Francis removed Bishop Joseph Strickland from the pastoral governance of the diocese of Tyler, Texas, after he accused the Pope of “undermining the deposit of faith.”
Through social media, Strickland criticized Francis’s liberal views on same-sex marriage, abortion, and LGBTQ issues.
The Hill reports that In 2020, Strickland called the church “weak” and “not clear” and dared the pontiff to fire him, The National Catholic Reporter (NCR) said earlier this year.
The Associated Press reported Strickland criticized Francis’s recent meeting on hot-topic issues, including the integration of LGBTQ Catholics, the potential for female deacons, and access to the priesthood for married men.
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Strickland spread anti-vaccine messages during the COVID-19 pandemic, while criticizing President Biden’s support for abortion rights, the NCR reported. In 2020, Strickland also voiced support for a controversial video that argued Catholics could not vote for Democrats in political elections.
Francis ordered two U.S. bishops to conduct an apostolic visitation to Strickland in June. The move came after complaints from priests and laypeople in Tyler about Strickland making unorthodox claims.
The head of the church in Texas, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, said Saturday the two bishops “conducted an exhaustive inquiry into all aspects of governance and leadership” by Strickland.
In other words, he wasn’t preaching the required political narrative.
Bishop Strickland posted this on X this afternoon.
“I pray that this effort is prayerful, respectful, and focused on Jesus. He is the only support I need, and I feel the profound embrace of His Sacred Heart. I appreciate the vigorous faith this is inspired by but please remember I am nothing, Jesus is everything. Viva Cristo Rey!”
Show your support for Bishop Strickland next Saturday in Tyler, Texas. pic.twitter.com/iD4bPLLlbc
— Fred Simon (@FredSimonTLM) November 12, 2023
If you’ve been taught to protect life, marriage is between a man and a woman, and priests should not marry, how do you suddenly buy into the opposite? That’s especially the case given Pope Francis is Marxist.
HIS REPLACEMENT
Bishop Joe Vasquez, a Mexican American, is supportive of illegal immigration as is Pope Francis.
As the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, he was instrumental in the “Share the Journey” campaign, which was launched by Pope Francis. This campaign called for greater solidarity with migrants and refugees, aiming to break down barriers of fear and suspicion and foster understanding and hospitality. It involved more than 100 U.S. dioceses and included various activities such as special Masses, prayer vigils, and social media engagement to show solidarity with people on the move, many of whom were fleeing violence, terrorism, and disaster.
Vasquez is committed to global issues.
The problem with this thinking is people don’t suffer from fear and suspicion. They see massive illegal immigration without assimilation as destroying the nation and giving a totalitarian Democrat Progressive Party a permanent electoral majority.
Pope Francis has regularly eliminated the voices of conservatives in the religious order. He’s filled the College of Cardinals with leftists. He’s too political for a Pope. Maybe Bishop Strickland was too.
THE REASONS?
- The Latin Mass
- Undermining the deposit of faith
- Integration of LGBTQ Catholics, the potential for female deacons, abortion, and access to the priesthood for married men.
- Anti-vaccine and anti-Joe Biden messages
- Complaints
- Governance and leadership
- Integration with migrants [illegal aliens] and [fake] refugees, and global issues.
wpDiscuz
