Pope Francis sacks Texas bishop Joseph Strickland

Pope Francis has sacked one of his most prominent critics in the Catholic Church in the US in a move that highlighted increasing tensions between the church’s liberal and traditional wings.

Pope Francis greets people at the end of an audience at The Vatican on Saturday. Picture: AFP

Pope Francis has sacked one of his most prominent critics in the Catholic Church in the US, bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler Texas, in a move that highlighted increasing tensions between the church’s liberal and traditional wings.

In an announcement on Saturday, the Vatican said the Pope had relieved the bishop “of the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Tyler’’.

No explanation was given for the move. which is rare. Senior clerics, when asked to resigned, generally go quietly. Bishop Strickland had been asked to resign, but refused, arguing “that would be me abandoning the flock’’.

In a posting on X in May, he acknowledged that Francis was Pope but said “it is time for me to say that I reject his program of undermining the Deposit of Faith’’.

That message came in the context of preparations for the “Synod on Synodality’’ at which issues such as blessings of same-sex couples, female deacons and LGBTQ+ issues were to be discussed.

In a letter to the 120,000 Catholics of his diocese in August, Bishop Strickland warned against “basic truths’’ being undermined, such as the “undeniable biological and God-given” nature of gender identity’’.

Pope Francis greets Bishop Joseph Strickland during a visit to The Vatican in January 2020. Picture: CNS photo/Vatican Media

With 21 trainee priests in its seminary, the small diocese is doing better than most in the US and the West in attracting vocations.

At the weekend, US cardinal Daniel DiNardo, also of Texas, said an apostolic visitation (inquiry) into the Tyler diocese in June had reported it was “not feasible” that Bishop Strickland stay in office.

Earlier this year, Pope Francis lamented the “strong reactionary attitude” of some Catholics in the US, who he said do not understand the “evolution in the understanding of matters of faith and morals”.

Bishop Strickland’s treatment has angered German cardinal Gerhard Mueller (who was sacked by Francis in 2017 as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“The Pope has no authority from Christ to intimidate and bully good bishops modelled on Christ the Good Shepherd who, in accordance with the episcopal ideal of Vatican II, sanctify, teach and shepherd God’s flock in Christ’s name, simply because false friends denounce these good bishops to Francis as enemies of the Pope, while heretical and immoral bishops can do as they please or disturb Christ’s Church every day with some other nonsense,’’ Cardinal Mueller said in September.

A week ago, German bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann of Speyer sent a letter asking priests in his diocese to bless same-sex couples in churches.

“The ceremony must differ from a church wedding ceremony in terms of words and signs and should explicitly reinforce the love, commitment and mutual responsibility in the couple’s relationship as an act of blessing,’’ he said.

Tensions have also flared in Rome over newly promoted Hong Kong cardinal Stephen Chow inviting bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing, the head of the Chinese Communist Party-sponsored Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association to visit Hong Kong for a week starting on Monday.

Cardinal Chow supports the Vatican’s secret pact with the Chinese Communist Party, which many in China and Hong Kong, including Cardinal Zen, 91, regard as a betrayal of “underground” Catholics who remained loyal to the Vatican for decades.

The pact has never been sighted. But it includes a power-sharing arrangement for the appointment of bishops, which the CCP has violated several times, appointing new bishops without the Vatican’s consent.

Additional reporting: AFP