An American bishop has claimed he was fired by the Pope because dark forces within the Vatican wanted to stop him from preaching the Gospel.
The Holy See announced at the weekend that Bishop Joseph Strickland has been removed from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, and that Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin will serve as apostolic administrator until a new bishop is named.
The outspoken bishop and critic of the policies of Pope Francis was subjected along with this to a Vatican apostolic visitation earlier this year and it was widely speculated that the Holy Father would demand his resignation.
In an interview with LifeSiteNews, Bishop Strickland said he could not understand why he was being deprived of his see but speculated that he was the victim of enemies of the faith within the Church.
He said: “I said that I couldn’t resign, and I couldn’t of my will abandon the flock that I’d been given. But … Pope Francis has the authority to remove me as bishop, and he’s chosen to do so. I have to respect that.”
He said: “I really can’t look to any reason except I’ve threatened some of the powers that be with the truth of the Gospel.”
“The only answer I have to that is because forces in the Church right now don’t want the truth of the Gospel,” he continued.
“They want it changed. They want it ignored. They want to be rid of the truth that is gloriously not going to go away. The truth that is Jesus Christ, His mystical body, which is the Church, all the wonders that the martyrs died for and the saints lived for through almost 2000 years since Christ died and rose.”
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