In a rare move, Pope Francis forcibly removed a Texas bishop who had called him too progressive
In a rare move, Pope Francis forcibly removed a Texas bishop who had called him too progressive
Pope Francis has forcibly removed from office the bishop of Tyler, Texas. Bishop Joseph Strickland is a conservative who is active on social media and has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and some of his priorities.
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.
He's gonna go start his own church with blackjack and children.
264Under
agedrated comment right there!99He will 100% use this to start a new church to siphon funds from his snowflake congregation
43Wouldn't doing that literally be considered heresy? That doesn't really mean much in the modern day I suppose, but if he actually believes all the Catholic stuff (which I imagine he might, to have gotten that high a rank in it in the first place?), then potentially getting excommunicated is probably not something he would want.
23And by that, he'll call it his own "Las Nevadas", but way, way more insidious and manipulative.
3
Good. More of this. Fuck these conservatives wolves in bishops clothing.
129Next let's expell all the diddlers... you can't tell me they aren't still around...
20If they did that there would probably be more churches than clergymen left.
(Not that I see a downside, but they probably do)
6
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
94Only when the pope chooses to speak as god, forget the fancy term.
47The 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.
47Ex cathedra, iirc (or something similar).
11deleted by creator
0
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.
23a heretic.
2
I don't get how you can be 'too progressive'. Surely progress is a good thing, no? If you're against progress, you're in favor of things remaining as they are or getting worse. To me, that's just being a cunt.
I guess what I'm saying is, "Pope removes bishop for being too much of a cunt" would've been a good headline also.
83Many people worked hard within the current hierarchy or system to attain power. They essentially invested their time, resource or energy for this gain over a lifetime. Progressives want change to the existing power heirarchies and systems. That change nullifies the lifetime investment. That's why there is such institutional resistance to progressives.
32Yeah, but fuck em.
50% joking btw
4
To me, that’s just being a cunt.
Welcome to religious conservatism.
23Progress for one man can be regression for other.
17Ah interesting. Sounds smart. Doesn't fit here though.
Gotta ask... Specifically regarding the progress we are referring to here (the right for LGBTQ+ people to exist peacefully), I'm curious how, and for whom, this could possibly cause "regression"? Who is personally losing anything or having any kind of negative difference in their lives in any way whatsoever by the existence of these people?
Edit: for anyone too thick to get what I'm saying: I know there are people who believe allowing LGBTQ+ people to exist is "regressive," that's literally my point. What I'm saying t is that there's no rational, logically sound argument that anyone could make that would somehow show allowing these people to live causes society to regress.
It's just not a thing. It doesn't matter how many times people repeat it.
6
Not for religion, it is about power and control.
12Progress in general is just a term. What people consider to be "progressive" can change from person to person. There's also the obvious risk of progressing too quickly before things can stabilize, you could progress a third world country far quicker than their people/culture would be able to keep up, for example.
While I understand and agree with your general sentiment, but the idea that progress is actually progress just because it carries the term is a fallacy.
9People who abuse their families have jobs, vote and go to church.
1
We have an expression in Québec for people who either:
1- Defend someone else's interests with more fervor than the other person themselves.
2- To have extremist values, thoughts or actions.
The expression is "Être plus catholique que le pape." Or to be more Catholic than the pope himself.
66Oh this guy definitely thinks himself the most holy Catholic person to ever live. He is light years away from the papacy in terms of ever being Pope, but definitely casually suggests to his followers that HE some random fuck in Texas would be a better Pope than the actual Pope
33In Italian we say "more royalist than the king". Btw, the Pope was criticized even by Italian politicians because "they know better" what the Catholic faith should be like. And I'm not referring to some minor party, but to the very backbone of the current government. It seems like the Pope is intentionally trying to mess up their whole electoral campaign based on tradicional family and morality.
17We have pretty much the same expression in English!
14
Despite the evilness of the Catholic church as a whole, I've got to say I kinda like Pope Francis. Too bad the majority of religious leaders aren't more like him.
57He still protected sexual abusers like Cardinal McCarrick. He's handled the PR of sexual abuse than his predecessors, but he hasn't excommunicated a single abuser or enabler. He hasn't turned any records over to law enforcement.
Religious leaders need better role models than the pope.
51Aint Churh people one big family ? Not gonna turn one of their own if they don't have to.
0
Don’t forget he basically said Charlie Hebdo had it coming.
Dude’s still an ass, he’s just a comparatively smaller ass than his predecessors.
35He's no saint, though.
What you're mentioning is the equivalent of "huh, this pope gives us 10 fewer kicks in the nuts per day than the previous popes. I kinda like him!"
He wants to welcome lgbt people in the church? The reaction shouldn't be "oh he's so good!" It should be "about damn time, fuckers!"
28Unless - bear with me, this may be a hot take - he'd like more lgbt+ people in the church in order to have more consenting children for the older clerics to take advantage of.
E: Either people don't have sarcasm detectors or they don't like bad jokes...
-7
The modern church is the shell of the institution it once was. Which is a good thing. Let's make it even less relevant than it already is.
52The goal isn't to make it hollow, the goal is to shrink the size proportional to honest participation, so that it doesn't have an outsized influence on the general population.
33If it was the whole turtle they would have burned the pedo-, excuse me, pries-cough cough child fucker at the stake for blasphemy.
7
Churches of all kinds are destroying themselves with politics.
39good
23
From the article:
“This is total war,” Matt wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Francis is a clear and present danger not only to Catholics the world over but also to the whole world itself.”
Matt is the editor of a traditionalist newspaper. That guy needs to touch grass. How stupid can a person be?
37Yes Matt, the 86 years old dude without any power preaching about peace on another continent is very dangerous./s
Also, I somehow have a feeling that he doesn’t have the same opinion on Putin, who is actually a danger to the whole world.
5Let them go to war! Religion vs. Conservatives?
There's no winners! #L F G!!!
5My brother in Happy Holidays, we are the winners. The only thing I am concerned about is whether there will be enough popcorn kernels available for us all. I’ve stocked up, almost 69 stones worth.
9
Tyler TX is also home to Idiot Child Louie Gohmert. There are churches and banks on every corner, and every time there's new construction there's a 50% chance it's either a church or a bank.
25laypeople in Tyler had complained and that he was making unorthodox claims.
Oh you.
23Honestly, though: good for those Catholic laypeople in Texas to complain to the friggin' Vatican that this guy is a compete nut job!
19Give that writer a raise.
4
Fun fact about Tyler, TX...
Ok I'm at a loss.
16If I remember right. A friend said that Tyler Texas is also where a bad racist act happened.
13True for any Insert Texas name here
14
This is the best summary I could come up with:
ROME (AP) — 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.
The Vatican never released the findings and Strickland had insisted he wouldn’t resign voluntarily, saying in media interviews that he was given a mandate to serve as bishop in 2012 by the late Pope Benedict XVI and couldn’t abdicate that responsibility.
Francis has not been shy about his concerns about the right wing in the U.S. Catholic hierarchy, which has been split between progressives and conservatives who long found support in the doctrinaire papacies of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, particularly on issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.
In comments to Portuguese Jesuits in August, Francis blasted the “backwardness” of these conservative bishops, saying they had replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.
The meeting debated a host of previously taboo issues, including women in governance roles and welcoming LGBTQ+ Catholics, but in the end, its final document didn’t veer from established doctrine.
In a social media post sent a few hours before the Vatican’s noon announcement, Strickland wrote a prayer about Christ being the “way, the truth and the life, yesterday, today and forever.” He had changed the handle from his previous @bishopoftyler to @BishStrickland.
The original article contains 1,068 words, the summary contains 241 words. Saved 77%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
10@BishStrickland? Should be @BitchStrickland!
1
Good, can we suggest others to remove?
9The church knows how to respond when you challenge their authority or put their money at risk.
6This sounds very in-line with the experienced detailed to me by an ex who grew up in Tyler, Texas.
5It's high time we had another Anti-Pope.
5$10 says this guy runs for Turd Cruz’s senate seat next year, as a repube of course.
5That's a word I'll never get out of my teeth
4
How do you criticize your own God ordained leader as someone very high up on that very same hierarchy?
Like you criticizing this person clearly implies you don't believe in your God, or at least don't believe it ordains the pope.
3Note to pope: go woke and go broke.
We cancelled bud light and are coming for the Catholics next!
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5You’re a goddamn idiot, buddy.
4