After an Apostolic Visit to Texas by the Dicastery for Bishops, many have predicted that the process will end in the removal of Bishop Joseph Strickland from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.

Newsroom (22/09/2023 09:00, Gaudium Press) Since the Apostolic Visit in June by the Dicastery for Bishops, predictions have been made that the process will culminate in the removal of Bishop Joseph Strickland from his diocese in Tyler, Texas.

Some media are reporting that on 9 September, the Pope met with Bishop Robert Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, and Bishop Cristophe Pierre, Nuncio to the USA, to discuss the results of the Apostolic Visit and the possible departure of Bishop Strickland.

“Bishop Strickland’s situation is on the agenda,” a senior official close to the dicastery told The Pillar Catholic, “and the expectation is that the Holy Father will request his resignation; that will certainly be the recommendation made to him.”

Although the Apostolic Visit was not about Bishop Strickland’s conservative doctrinal positions, but rather about aspects of his government and economic management, no one doubts that the main reason is the critical statements issued by Bishop Strickland, who went so far as to say that Pope Francis has a “program [to] undermine the Deposit of Faith”.

Vatican sources said that it would be very strange for the Pope to depose the bishop, which would be unusual, but that the bishop would be invited to submit his resignation.

As events unfold, Bishop Strickland has recently published a pastoral letter dealing with the correct reception of the Sacraments and the doctrine of grave sin, which may place more emphasis on his characterisation as a conservative prelate.

However, it is unclear whether a suggestion or pressure from the Vatican will force the resignation of the bishop, who has already declared that “they won’t stop me”. “When we speak the truth of Jesus Christ, there is no political correctness. And the world can try to silence us, but it won’t work.”

The prelate’s situation, if it reaches maximum levels of tension, will represent a new headache for the American Church, especially in areas hurt by what they consider to be a lack of appreciation from the current pontificate – ratified by the Pontiff’s comments, issued in Portugal – about reactionary sectors in the US Church, which have an ‘indietrist’ (backwards) and ideologized vision. Furthermore, the Bishop’s deposition may very well raise questions from those who wonder why prelates who openly conflict with the Church’s two thousand year old doctrine have not been subject to such punishments.

Compiled by Sandra Chisholm