Pope Francis has removed the bishop in Tyler, Texas, a conservative who used social media to frequently criticize the pontiff’s m0re liberal stances on bringing LGBTQ members back to the church, the Associated Press reports. Francis essentially fired Joseph Strickland, the head of the Diocese of Tyler, made up of 33 counties in east Texas with about 55,000 Roman Catholics, officially saying he was “relieved” of his pastoral governance of the diocese.
Strickland was investigated by the Vatican earlier this year after members of the diocesan administration called some of Strickland’s public comments into question. The Vatican has not publicly released the findings, but Strickland has asserted he would never resign his post because he was given a mandate by Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict, who appointed Strickland to be bishop in 2012. Strickland also flouted Francis’s restrictions on the old Latin Mass, a liturgy traditionalists rallied around to stand up to the liberal tide they believe Francis personifies.