Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas was subjected to a Vatican review over the summer and is now expecting a formal request from Pope Francis to resign from his diocese.
Among his supposed misdeeds, Strickland called President Joe Biden a “fake Catholic” for his support of abortion and has used social media to criticize the leftward drift of the Catholic Church.
Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, who was defrocked by Rome for his public stance, tells AFN the attack against Strickland makes a mockery of the Vatican for urging Catholics to get involved in the culture and to be courageous.
“And yet when people actually try to do that we get push back,” he says, “especially when they try to connect the dots for people between what the faith says and what public policy should be.”
According to a LifeNews article, Strickland was the topic of a recent meeting with two top Catholic officials. They will likely pass along a request from Pope Francis for him to resign rather than the controversial pope outright removing him from his post.
Pavone predicts a request for Strickland to step down will “infuriate” pro-life Catholics, who know why he angered the Vatican, but he hopes other Christians are angered by a clear attack on a man’s faith and his values by his own Catholic Church.
