In very rare move, Pope dismisses conservative US bishop Strickland
In very rare move, Pope dismisses conservative US bishop Strickland
Pope Francis has dismissed Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, one of his fiercest critics among U.S. Catholic conservatives, a Vatican statement said on Saturday.
So high level overview is that Strickland was an ultra MAGA bishop who strongly supported Trump, and has publicly stated that he'd refuse the normal method for a bishop to be removed, in which he is asked to resign.
There's also this anecdote from the article:
Last year, when the Vatican defrocked ultra-conservative U.S. anti-abortion priest Frank Pavone for "blasphemous" social media posts and disobedience to bishops, Strickland was one of the few American bishops to defend him publicly.
"The blasphemy is that this holy priest is canceled while an evil president promotes the denial of truth and the murder of the unborn at every turn, Vatican officials promote immorality and denial of the deposit of faith and priests promote gender confusion devastating lives...evil," Strickland wrote on the platform then known as Twitter.
So basically, Strickland joined one of the most authoritarian organizations in the world, the Catholic Church, and then refused to obey the Pope, instead choosing to worship fucking Donald Trump, of all people, all the while calling President Biden and even the Vatican "evil."
Sounds like this man was far too stupid to be in such a position of power. Just another idiot who sacrificed himself for a rich con man.
Watch him create his own church to grift his followers once he gets kicked out.
SCHISM! SCHISM! SCHISM!
He's no Martin Luther but yeah you're probably right, he'll make his own with cocaine, hookers, and Homosexual pedophilia..... He's still a Catholic priest after all.
I mean, it’s rich conmen anywhere you look through the whole story tbh
Hardly a stupid manages to become a bishop… it’s like saying a stupid becomes Senior Vice President of a huge corporation. It just doesn’t happen “accidentally”.
What it is more likely is that he was in the conservative side of the church (pope Benedict nominated him). When a “progressive”, (relatively) young and healthy as Francis went on power he realised that he couldn’t become any more senior in the church (before retiring in 10years) so he tried to accumulate as many “donations” as possible from the most gullible people in his neighbourhood (MAGA supporters). He just did what trump does: be an anti establishment (while well inside the establishment)
I am 100% sure this dude will not die in poverty
Hardly a stupid manages to become a bishop… it’s like saying a stupid becomes Senior Vice President of a huge corporation. It just doesn’t happen “accidentally”.
Both are often achieved through family/connections and not by personal achievements or intelligence.
The human brain is a complicated thing. It's possible to be smart in one area, while being abjectly stupid in another. You might as well say that a stupid person couldn't become mayor of New York City, and so Rudy Giuliani must not be stupid.
Strickland could have easily just chosen to keep quiet and wait for the next pope, which will probably happen relatively soon. So, in that respect, this seems ridiculously stupid. But I think you're suggesting that he decided to "cash out" on his role, regardless. In which case, it seems that he's simply evil instead of just stupid. I guess I could buy that, as well. I think it's pretty apt to suggest that every high profile MAGA person is either evil, stupid, or both. But I tend to think there has to be a strong element of stupidity in there, even if they're just mostly evil. After all, it's Donald Trump....
Ironically, Biden is a practicing Catholic, while you will never convince me that trump is religious at all. Time to warship false idols?
It's usually not a good idea to criticize your boss if you want to keep your job.
I don't think he wanted the job. He found a better grift, and getting fired by the Pope will only enhance that grift.
Not bowing to church authority is the only way to be disciplined in the Catholic Church.
Hahaha, that's funny. In this example he bends his knee (and spine) to Donald Fucking Trump.
Get defrocked, asshat.
Touching kids' buttholes? The Pope stands with you and will protect you. Criticize the Pope? That is too far, you must leave.
https://invidious.asir.dev/watch?v=JkOHDoEkPW0
Remember to post every time the pope is mentioned.
Classic