“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” John 6:51
“Scandal, division, disease, doubt. The Church has withstood each of these throughout our very human history. But today, we confront all of them, all at once. Our response at this moment is pivotal.
In the midst of these roaring waves, Jesus is present, reminding us that he is more powerful than the storm. He desires to heal, renew, and unify the Church and the world.
How will he do it? By uniting us once again around the source and summit of our faith in the celebration of the Eucharist. The National Eucharistic Revival is the joyful, expectant, grassroots response of the entire Catholic Church in the U.S. to this divine invitation,” organizers of the 2023 revival wrote about their plans to revive the American Catholic Church.
But that is not going to happen if the Pope has anything to say about it.
News reports are that the Pope is on the attack and pointed at the American Church. At the center of the most recent controversy is one man who represents several other canceled and abused American priests.
Bishop J. Strickland, who sent a note to his supporters that he is not giving up on anything, even though he is being targeted from within the Catholic Church.
“For any who may be concerned, be assured I am Jesus Strong! Pray for Pope Francis and Christ’s Bride the Church. she has weathered turmoil before and she will continue to do so. Viva Cristo Rey!” Bishop Strickland posted on Monday.
The controversy started for Bishop Strickland recently over his comments about Democrat Joe Biden being a “fake Christian”. That is when the most Marxist Pope in history stepped in to punish people over the jab at Biden.
And this attack on Strickland interestingly happens as there is a National Eucharistic Revival unfolding.
The American church call describes their revival as “a movement to restore understanding and devotion to this great mystery here in the United States by helping us renew our worship of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.”
WATCH:
“So it begins. Pope Francis will now focus on purging the US Catholic Church of any bishop who dares to stand up to him. Speaking as a Catholic American, this is personal now,” one Catholic supporter posted on X (formerly Twitter) in response to the news of the Pope’s possible next moves.
Lifesite News reported on the dust-up:
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis met with Vatican officials over the weekend to discuss asking Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, to resign, according to a report on Monday by The Pillar.
Pope Francis met on Saturday with Archbishop Robert Prevost, O.S.A., the head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
The Pillar reported that several sources close to the dicastery told the website ahead of the meeting that the two prelates, both of whom Pope Francis named cardinals in July, would present the pope with the results of a recent apostolic visitation of the Diocese of Tyler in addition to “public actions” of Bishop Strickland following the visitation.
Pope Francis is expected to ask for Bishop Strickland’s resignation, according to one senior official close to the Dicastery for Bishops.
“The situation of Bishop Strickland is the agenda,” the official told The Pillar, “and the expectation is that the Holy Father will be requesting his resignation – that will certainly be the recommendation put to him.”
“The official predicted that the Pope was unlikely to decide to depose Strickland as bishop of his diocese, a canonically rare act, but told The Pillar that Pope Francis would be advised to encourage the bishop to resign,” the outlet reported.
“The consensus in the dicastery is that he will be asked to consider resigning,” the official said. “That has been the substance of discussion among the members.”
“Depending on how the bishop responds, the strength of that encouragement could be increased,” the official added.
The Pillar previously reported that sources familiar with Strickland’s visitation said that diocesan officials and clergy interviewed as part of the investigation were asked about him potentially resigning and possible successors.
Prevost is one of three American prelates who are members of the Dicastery for Bishops, along with Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, both notorious liberals.
The potential move by Francis comes against one of the most forthright and vocal bishops in the United States, who has drawn considerable support both from within and without his diocese for his promotion of traditional Catholic teaching.
Strickland and his diocese have been the subject of much scrutiny among the Catholic media ever since it was revealed that he was subject to an apostolic visitation in June 2023. His visitation was conducted by two retired bishops: Bishop Dennis Sullivan of Camden, New Jersey, and former Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona.
Kicanas was widely noted by Catholics concerned about the visitation due to his troublesome record on abortion and homosexuality. He defended Catholic Relief Services’s funding of pro-abortion groups in 2012 and, among other things, was endorsed by a homosexual group in the likelihood of his becoming president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, as LifeSite’s John-Henry Westen has reported.
No public announcement regarding the outcome of Strickland’s visitation had been issued to the public prior to The Pillar’s report.
Last year, Pope Francis removed Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres, another outspoken advocate of Catholic teaching, from the Diocese of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, without explanation, reportedly due to his support for conscience objections to COVID jab mandates.
The pope, however, has not disciplined numerous bishops who have publicly contradicted Catholic doctrine on homosexual activity, gender, same-sex “blessings,” the ordination of women, and the reception of the Eucharist.
In March, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., of Luxembourg a member of the Council of Cardinals after Hollerich said that he believes Church teaching on sodomy is “false.” Francis has also named Hollerich the relator general of his Synod on Synodality.
More recently, the pope appointed Argentine Cardinal-designate Victor Manuel Fernández the prefect of the Dicastery (formerly Congregation) for the Doctrine of the Faith, despite Fernández’ heterodoxy on various subjects.
Speaking on a July episode of The Bishop Strickland Hour, Strickland compared his apostolic visitation with “being called to the principal’s office.” But he suggested that it is a result of his vocal witness to Catholic doctrine:
No, it’s not something that I would volunteer for, to go through an apostolic visitation. Because it kind of puts a shadow over the diocese, [and] a lot of people are convinced that there’s something really wrong. But I think that I went through this because I’ve been bold enough and love the Lord enough and His Church to simply keep preaching the truth.
Bishop Strickland, 64, is well known among LifeSite readers for his unequivocal defense of Catholic teaching, teaching that is often cast in confusion by papal statements or messages.