The Pontificate of Purges: Ten Years of Defenestrations

It’s not only Strickland. The long series of bishops removed prematurely by Pope Francis has accelerated in the last year and a half: strike one to educate a hundred. Each individual case is perplexing, but the total number is shocking. We are talking about the defenestrations of bishops by Pope Francis, which have marked his entire pontificate.

The latest egregious case was that of the Bishop of Tyler (see here), Msgr Joseph Strickland, who, after pressure from the Nuncio for his ‘voluntary’ resignation, was removed from his diocese, without any explanation being given. There is no record of any financial or sexual scandal against him, still less that he was guilty of heresy (which would probably have advanced his career); more simply, Strickland seems to have committed the crime of lèse-majesté, repeatedly taking positions not pleasing to the ecclesiastical Politburo: resistance to vaccines based on foetal cell lines, opposition to the blessing of gay couples, resistance to Traditionis Custodes. And then that unforgivable vice of wanting to continue to have numerous seminarians: 21 in training, in a diocese of just over 130,000 baptised and 84 priests.

A vice that Strickland shares with another bishop caught in the crosshairs: Msgr Domique Rey, bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, in whose diocese priestly ordinations have been frozen for over a year, and an apostolic visitation is in progress. The solution seems to be on the horizon: according to Jean-Marie Guénois (see here) it would be an “honourable way out (…) both for Msgr Rey – who remains in his post – and for his pastoral work”. It would be the appointment as coadjutor of the diocese of Fréjus-Toulone of Msgr François Touvet, Bishop of Châlons en Champagne, who would flank Msgr Rey with right of succession; a sort of diarchy for the four years separating Rey from the fateful 75 years. Or more realistically, if one thinks of what happened to the Bishop of Albenga-Imperia, Msgr Mario Oliveri, a freezing of the ordinary bishop’s faculties. It is rather difficult to understand how a bishop’s full power of jurisdiction over his diocese and the sharing out of this jurisdiction with a coadjutor can stand together.

But Strickland and Rey are the latest in a long series that, in our recollection, had begun with the removal on 25 September 2014 of the Bishop of Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), Msgr Roger Ricardo Livieres Plano, a member of Opus Dei, who had refused to resign under pressure from the Holy See. Several criticisms weighed on him: having taken in a US priest accused of abuse of a boy over 18, whose case was later dismissed for lack of evidence; mismanagement of diocese funds; and then the great fault of having wanted to erect an independent seminary in his own diocese.

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NOTE: Clerics cited in this article have been included in the table below, along with other clerics we believe need to be included.

The Pope's Purges

Cleric	Country	Year	Action	Details
Aguer, Bishop Hector Bishop of La Plata	Argentina	2018	Retired	Link
Altman, Father James Pastor, St. James the Less, La Crosse, WI	United States	2021	Removed	Link
Aupetit, Archbishop Michel Archbishop of Paris	France	2021	Forced Resignation	Link
Burke, Cardinal Raymond Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura	United States	2014	Removed	Link
Caffarra, Cardinal Carlo John Paul II Institute On Marriage and Family	Italy	2016	Removed	Link
Cavina, Bishop Francesco Bishop of Capri	Italy	2019	Forced Resignation	Link
Chaput, Archbishop Charles Archbishop of Philadelphia	United States	2020	Retired	Link
D'Ercole, Bishop Giovanni Bishop of Ascoli Piceno	Italy	2020	Forced Resignation	Link
Elst, Bishop Tebartz-Van Bishop of Limburg	Germany	2014	Removed	Link
Finn, Bishop Robert Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO	United States	2015	Forced Resignation	Link
Ganswein, Archbishop Georg Pope Benedict XVI’s secretary	Germany	2023	Removed	Link
Haas, Archbishop Wolfgang Archbishop of Vaduz	Liechtenstein	2023	Retired	Link
Holley, Bishop Martin Bishop of Mephis	United States	2018	Punish	Link
Livieres Plano, Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Bishop of Ciudad del Este	Paraguay	2014	Removed	Link
Morandi, Archbishop Giacomo Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith	Italy	2022	Reassigned	Link
Muller, Cardinal Gerhard Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith	Germany	2017	Removed	Link
Oliveri, Bishop Mario Albenga-Imperia	Italy	2016	Forced Resignation	Link
Pavone, Father Frank Priests for Life	United States	2021	Lacized	Link
Pell, Cardinal George Council of Cardinals	Australia	2018	Removed	Link
Perea, Bishop Pedro Daniel Martinez Bishop of San Luis	Argentina	2020	Forced Resignation	Link
Pozzo, Bishop Guido Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei	Italy	2019	Abolised Commission	Link
Rey, Bishop Dominique Fréjus-Toulon	France	2023	Removed	Link
Sarah, Cardinal Robert Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship	Africa	2021	Forced Resignation	Link
Strickland, Bishop Joseph Bishop of Tyler	United States	2023	Removed	Link
Tai-Fai, Archbishop Savio Hon Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples	China	2017	Removed	Link
Taussig, Bishop Eduardo Maria Bishop of San Rafael	Argentina	2022	Forced Resignation	Link
Torres , Bishop Daniel Fernandez Bishop of Arecibo	Puerto Rico	2022	Removed	Link
Treco, Father Vaugh Pastor, Church of St. Bede the Venerable, St. Louis Park, MN	United States	2019	Excommunicted	Link
Vigano, Archbishop Carlo Maria Papal Nuncio to the US	Italy	2016	Replaced	Link
White, Father Mark Pastor, St. Francis of Assisi in Rocky Mount, VA	United States	2021	Removed	Link
Zen, Cardinal Joseph Bishop of Hong Kong	China	2022	Thrown to the Wolves	Link