The Vatican quietly launched an investigation into the diocese of Tyler, Texas, and its outspoken bishop, Joseph Strickland, last week, the diocese confirmed to the National Catholic Reporter on Monday. The apostolic visitation "was very confidential," diocesan spokeswoman Elizabeth Slaten told NCR. "The whole thing was conducted by the Holy See. We respect their processes."
An apostolic visitation is commissioned by the Vatican and often centers on whether someone in a leadership position, like a diocesan bishop or monastic abbot, is able to govern in an "appropriate and effective ways," cannon lawyer Mercy Sr. Sharon Euart told NCR. They are often used to "to rein in clerics seen by the Vatican to be problematic," Religion News Service added, and Strickland, 64, is a "conservative firebrand" with "years of controversy" and more Twitter followers than Catholics in his diocese.
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