Pope Francis has dismissed Monsignor Joseph E. Strickland, a traditionalist representative and critic of the pontiff, as bishop of the American diocese of Tyler, after an inspection of his government.
The diocese remains “vacant” but will be led by the bishop of Austin, Joe Vásquez, as “apostolic administrator,” as confirmed today by the Holy See in a brief statement.
The Vatican has not specified the reasons for his departure and in the note uses the concept of “dismissal”, while Monsignor Strickland is still ten years away from turning 75, the age at which bishops retire according to the Code of Canon law.
The decision comes after Pope Francis ordered an “apostolic visitation” or inspection of the Texas diocese last June, entrusted precisely to two American bishops.
Strickland is an outspoken critic of Francis and in 2018 he joined the accusations against the pontiff declared by the former nuncio to the United States, Carlo Maria Viganò, regarding Francis’ alleged knowledge of the abuses of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
In a letter addressed to his parishioners in August 2018, Monsignor Strickland considered Viganò’s accusations against the Argentine pope, whom he demanded his resignation, “credible.”
Canon Law specifies that a diocese or episcopal see becomes “vacant”, as is the current case of Tyler, “due to the death of the bishop, resignation accepted by the Roman Pontiff, transfer or deprivation intimated to the bishop.”
Precisely this morning the Pope met in the Vatican with the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the American Robert Francis Prevost, although no information about the meeting has emerged.