It is very rare for a bishop to be relieved of his duties immediately. Typically, bishops who have problems with the Vatican are asked to resign before tendering their resignation, which the Pope accepts.
Popes often take such drastic measures when a bishop refuses to resign when asked. Strickland is 65, 10 years younger than the normal retirement age for bishops. Strickland said earlier this year that he would refuse to resign if asked.
Strickland, an active social media user who was appointed to the diocese by the late Pope Benedict in 2012, wrote on Faith”.
In particular, he criticized the Pope’s attempts to make the Church more welcoming to the LGBT community, as well as Francis’ attempts to give the laity greater responsibility in the Church. He also opposed the recent synod.
The firing followed a Vatican investigation earlier this year into the administration of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, headed by Strickland. The investigation examined how she handled his financial affairs, Catholic media reported.
The dismissal was announced simultaneously by the Vatican and the United States Bishops’ Conference. No reason was given in any of the statements.
There was no comment from Strickland himself on this topic. Reached by phone, the diocese told Reuters it was closed over the weekend.
Strickland has become one of the toughest supporters of the ultra-conservative wing of the American Church, and his audience in the United States extends far beyond the small diocese of Tyler.
Last August, the pope lamented what he called the “reactionary” Catholic Church in the United States, where he said political ideology had in some cases replaced faith.
Strickland is a strong supporter of former US President Donald Trump. Much of the conservative American Catholic media that supports Trump treats him as a hero.
Last year, when the Vatican removed ultraconservative anti-abortion American priest Frank Pavone from ministry for “blasphemous” social media posts and defiance of bishops, Strickland was one of the few American bishops to speak publicly in his defense.
“It is a sacrilege for a priest to be fired while a villainous president promotes the denial of the truth and the murder of unborn children at every turn, Vatican officials promote immorality and the denial of the deposit of faith, priests promote a gender confusion destroying lives…evil,” Strickland wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The Vatican said Francis named Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin, Texas, as interim administrator of the Diocese of Tyler.
