Pope Francis investigates Texas bishop, accepts early resignation of embattled Tennessee prelate

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.

Strickland's trollish behavior on Twitter, including attacks on Pope Francis and Democratic lawmakers and support for Covid-19 vaccine deniers, "earned him a personal rebuke in 2021" from the Vatican's papal nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Christophe Pierre, RNS reported. "But efforts to rein in Strickland through private conversations appeared unsuccessful. If anything, the bishop's comments have grown more strident."

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Apostolic visitations are fairly rare, but the Vatican also conducted one into the diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, in December 2022, after years of complaints about Bishop Richard Stika. Pope Francis accepted Stika's resignation, the Vatican announced Tuesday. Stika, 65, is a decade younger than the usual retirement age for bishops, 75. "For years, questions have swirled around his alleged cover-up of abuse, diocesan finances, morale among priests and the overall administration and management of the diocese," NCR reported.

Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky, will serve as apostolic administrator of the Knoxville diocese until the pope appoints Stika's replacement. Stika and Strickland were both appointed by Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Francis appointed and removed Bishop Martin Holley in Tennessee's Memphis diocese in 2018 for financial mismanagement, after an apostolic visitation.