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.

  • @JeffKerman1999@sopuli.xyz
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    941 year ago

    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

    • FuglyDuck
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      471 year ago

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

      • @NateNate60@lemmy.world
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        471 year ago

        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.

        • ivanafterall
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          211 year ago

          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.

        • FuglyDuck
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          101 year ago

          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.

        • Deceptichum
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          41 year ago

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

        • @Rinox@feddit.it
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          01 year ago

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

      • @kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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        51 year ago

        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.

        • @SheDiceToday@eslemmy.es
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          11 year ago

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

    • @ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      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.

      • @Rinox@feddit.it
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        151 year ago

        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

        • @ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          151 year ago

          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.