Francis Fires Strickland! Outspoken Novus Ordo Bishop of Tyler Removed by Bergoglio

Only incumbent diocesan bishop critical of Francis…

Francis Fires Strickland! Outspoken Novus Ordo Bishop of Tyler Removed by Bergoglio

Joseph Strickland, the only active diocesan Nous Ordo bishop openly critical of ‘Pope’ Francis, has been removed from his post against his will.

On Nov. 9, the Jesuit apostate occupying the Vatican guest house had asked Strickland to resign his post but he refused to do so, as he had announced previously he would. This led the Unholy Father to take the unusual and rare step of declaring him removed a mere two days later.

Thus the Vatican Bollettino, released at noon Rome time today, simply stated:

Removal of bishop of Tyler, U.S.A., and appointment of apostolic administrator

The Holy Father has removed Bishop Joseph E. Strickland from the pastoral care of the diocese of Tyler, United States of America, and has appointed Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin as apostolic administrator of the same diocese, rendering it sede vacante.

(Source)

In a first reaction, Strickland has already announced he will comply, that is, he accepts that he has been legally removed. He really has no other choice anyway, because in the Catholic religion, a Pope’s decree has legal effect, regardless of what the actual individual ends up doing. However, his ready willingness to accept his removal, however unjust he believes it to be, shows that Strickland retains a proper understanding of the power of the Pope — unlike Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, one of the greatest purveyors of theological sophistry in our time, who has been trying to persuade the world that when a Pope removes a bishop for what are perceived to be unjust reasons, then he should refuse to consider himself removed.

We have refuted Kwasniewski’s argument based on the Bishop Borecky case of the 1980s in our last post on the Strickland situation:

• Target: Tyler, Texas – A Commentary on the sticky Strickland Situation

Francis won’t mind that this move doesn’t exactly reflect his alleged usual attitude of tolerance, listening, dialogue, mercy, making room for other views, and his supposedly great hatred of ‘clericalism’. Here the rigid iron fist comes down because his favorite buzzwords are only to be employed to advance his soul-destroying agenda, not to challenge it.

The news of Strickland’s removal is being covered widely in Novus Ordo Land, and even the secular press has picked up on it:

• Bishop Strickland relieved of pastoral governance of US diocese (Vatican News)
• Pope Francis Relieves Bishop Joseph Strickland from Pastoral Governance of the Diocese of Tyler and Appoints Bishop Joe Vásquez as Apostolic Administrator Sede Vacante (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
• Pope removes Texas bishop who’s been a frequent Francis critic (Crux)
• Pope Francis removes Tyler’s Bishop Strickland (The Pillar)
• Pope Francis axes firebrand Texas Bishop Strickland, darling of right-wing Twitter (National Catholic Reporter)
• BREAKING: Pope Francis personally removes America’s Bishop Joseph Strickland (Life Site)
• Pope Francis removes Bishop Strickland of Diocese of Tyler, Texas (America)
• BREAKING: Pope Francis relieves Strickland of his duties as bishop of Tyler (Catholic World Report)
• BREAKING NEWS: ‘America’s Bishop’ No Longer Ordinary of Tyler, Texas (Church Militant)
• Pope forcibly removes leading US conservative, Texas bishop Strickland (Associated Press)
• Commie Pope Dismisses Conservative US Bishop Who Led Prayer Vigil Against LA Dodgers for Honoring Satanic Group ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’ (The Gateway Pundit)

We will leave a round-up of reactions from the recognize-and-resist crowd for a later post, in which we will provide some commentary as well.

The chancellor of the Tyler diocese has sent out a memorandum to all of the clergy, instructing them, among other things, that since Strickland is no longer the diocesan ordinary, his name (Joseph) can no longer be used in the ‘Eucharistic prayer’ (the Novus Ordo equivalent of the canon of the Mass) but must be replaced with the name of the current diocesan administrator (Joe). In other words, they had better be praying for ‘Joe our Bishop’ now instead of ‘Joseph our Bishop’:

So, what got Strickland the boot?

The misnamed National Catholic Reporter notes today, among other things, that the former ordinary of Tyler “in recent years questioned the safety of the coronavirus vaccines, called synodality ‘garbage,’ and endorsed a video that attacked Francis himself as a ‘diabolically disoriented clown’.” That surely didn’t help his reputation in the Vatican, but it may very well be that Strickland’s speech at the recent Rome Life Forum, held just outside Vatican City, was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

There are, of course, other Novus Ordo bishops who have publicly manifested their opposition to Francis’ agenda, even more so than Strickland, so the question arises why it is only Strickland who is being disciplined and not the others. One reason could be that Strickland was the only Novus Ordo bishop outspoken against Francis who actively led a diocese. Other critics of the false pope are either auxiliary bishops (such as Athanasius Schneider or Robert Mutsaerts) or retired ordinaries (such as Vitus Huonder), or curial officials with no assignment (such as ‘Cardinals’ Raymond Burke and Gerhard Muller). Even ‘Abp.’ Vigano, the most outspoken of them all, is retired.

Now retired himself, Strickland will have lots of time on his hands, so get ready for a boatload of interviews, books, speeches, and podcast appearances in the near future.

Meanwhile, there has been some other news in Novus Ordo Land as well:

‘Pope’ Francis today received a delegation of turbaned Sikh believers and told them: “Indeed, the true path to God, as your Holy Scripture Guru Granth Sahib says, lies in the service of our fellow human beings” (source), before going on to quote Our Lord’s words in Matthew 25:35-36. Pelagianism – salvation by works – is definitely one of Francis’ favorite heresies; as if our works were of any value before God apart from supernatural Faith: “But without faith it is impossible to please God…” (Heb 11:6).

In Argentina, Francis’ home country, the local Novus Ordo bishop of San Luis recently gave a blasphemous blessing to an interreligious audience and omitted mention of God the Son. His blessing was thus: “In the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit”. We can expect Francis to make him a ‘cardinal’ soon.

The madness just doesn’t end. It’s getting worse.

Ladies and gentlemen, recent events have added to the ever-growing pile of evidence showing the impossibility of being a Catholic in the Vatican II Church. It is not possible to recognize and submit to a Modernist hierarchy as if they were lawful Catholic authorities while at the same time retaining traditional Roman Catholic beliefs and practices. In short, you cannot be Catholic in a non-Catholic church:

• Rejecting the Imposter Church (Letter to the Clergy of the Diocese of Rockford by Fr. Michael Oswalt)
• From Novus Ordo Presbyter to Roman Catholic Priest (Interview with Fr. Michael DeSaye)
• Now What? How to be a real Catholic today

Let us pray for the people of Tyler, Texas, that they may come to see that theirs isn’t the only bishopric in the world that is currently vacant. (Hint, hint.)

And let us pray for Joseph Strickland, that he will come to see what more and more people are realizing: The Vatican II Church is not the Roman Catholic Church but its prophesied counterfeit.

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