In a rare move, Pope Francis forcibly removed a Texas bishop who had called him too progressive

MicroWave@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 807 points – In a rare move, Pope Francis forcibly removed a Texas bishop who had called him too progressive
apnews.com

Pope Francis on Saturday forcibly removed the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a firebrand conservative prelate active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and has come to symbolize the polarization within the U.S. Catholic hierarchy.

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 leading 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.

Earlier this year, the Vatican sent in investigators to look into his governance of the diocese, amid reports that priests and laypeople in Tyler had complained and that he was making unorthodox claims.

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Wait but wasn't a dogma that the word of the Pope IS the word of God? So that guy is an heretic and should be burnt at the stake

Only when the pope chooses to speak as god, forget the fancy term.

The Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility means that the pope has the power as head of the Church to declare something an unquestionable part of Church doctrine. This was last used to declare "the Virgin Mary went to heaven" as part of the Catholic doctrine. The "infallible" part of "papal infallibility" means that the pope's decision on the matter is final and that is the end of the discussion.

Not sure where Catholics got that. The Bible pretty clearly says Mary is burning eternally in hell for having premarital sex with the Holy Spirit.

Yes. When he’s speaking formally.

When he calls the nurse wiping his decrepit ass “a hot piece of tail”… that’s not formal doctrine. That’s just his mortal opinion. I believe the official term is when he’s speaking “ex cathedral”. There may be times broader than that, that count, but it’s a pretty obvious thing when he is.

Oh man but everyone tells me the Pope is so helpless and can’t stop child sex abuse in his own organisation.

The Vatican is only all-powerful in theory. The internal politics of the Catholic Church unfortunately are still a big consideration. They can only send out so many inquisitors and upend so many clergymen before internal unrest starts spreading. The worst-case scenario for the Vatican is for there to be another schism in the Church.

Many of the Church's institutions are thousands of years old and the Church is the oldest surviving Western cultural and political institution. It has a lot of baggage. I am not Catholic, but I still respect that Pope Francis has at least acknowledged the Church's wrongs and is trying to nudge it in the right direction. There is so much inertia that even the Pope can only nudge, not steer. That's why the doctrine of papal infallibility is only used in the way it is.

I'm super curious how the various governments would handle a schism. If the churches of west america decide to break away, and the churches of the east decide to break away, but neither wants to stick with the other side, and obviously all three parties want to keep the land and buildings and everything else, how would the ownership of the various properties/organizations and all the bank accounts/employer statuses be decided?

Still, you can't question the authority of the Pope and call yourself a Catholic, it's impossible for the Catholic Church

Isn't it when he's acting as the Holy See, or something like that? I saw a video explaining it a long time ago, but I can't recall all the details.

Sitting on the Holy Seat, informally. That's where the word cathedral comes from: the fancy seat for visiting bishops.

There's a heresy called sedevacantism that basically believes the last few Popes don't count because they've taken positions that the real Pope would never take.

They don't do the burning at the stake bit anymore though.

Some people are lucky that today's popes don't act like the popes of the olden days.

BTW, which one was the last true Pope in theory eyes? I bet it's the fascist one

I think most of them think the last real pope was Pius XII, and yeah he was the guy who signed the Reichskonkordat with the Nazis, which required priests in Germany to take an oath of loyalty to the German Reich.

He actually did that as Secretary of State before he became pope, on behalf of the previous pope, so they were both fash.

The reason sedevacantists dislike his successor, John XXIII, is that they are really upset about the Second Vatican Council introducing ideas like "the beneficial nature of diversity" and "concern for secular human values." That's the moment when they think the church went off the rails.

Likely whichever one suits their personal world view of bigotry and fascism.

Yes, that one that supported the Nazi's in WWII and gave the names and addresses of Jews to the gestapo.