Posted on 02/27/2013 11:01:02 AM PST by NYer
Throughout his eight-year papacy, Pope Benedict XVI has “carried out a cleansing of the episcopate,” said the apostolic nuncio to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tadjikistan.
“This Pope has removed two or three bishops per month throughout the world because either the accounts in their dioceses were a mess or their discipline was a disaster,” said Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia during a Feb. 20 address at the University of San Pablo in Madrid.
“The nuncio went to these bishops and said, ‘The Holy Father is asking you for the good of the Church to resign from your post.’”
Nearly all of these bishops, when approached by the Pope’s representative, were aware of the “disaster” and accepted the request to resign, he added.
“There have been two or three instances in which they said no, and so the Pope simply removed them,” he explained. “This is also a message to the bishops: do the same thing in your dioceses.”
The archbishop went on to say that he was “surprised” by the Pope’s decision to resign but said it is an example for the world’s politicians who hold on to power as long as they can.
The Holy Father’s decision is something that “great men have always done,” he noted.
Archbishop Buendia said he was aware that the Pope was wearing himself out and had wondered how he would be able to make the trip to Brazil this summer for World Youth Day, but his decision to resign was unexpected.
Nevertheless, he added, “the life of the Church will continue.”
Notice this was done globally. We may never know of those bishops impacted in the US. I had hoped and prayed that Benedict XVI would still be pope when Bishop Hubbard retired, later this year. Alas ...
Archbishop Buendia must have a pretty clean desk. There can’t be more than a dozen Catholics in any of those ‘Stans.
The rumored loyalty oaths, sudden “retirements”, sabbaticals and “retreats”, and “retraining” that went on behind the scenes thanks to our German Shepherd will be this Pope’s true legacy.
I’m just happy to see some real Vatican insider information coming out.
This is great news and I’ve assumed this was the case, with Pope Benedict.
**“There have been two or three instances in which they said no, and so the Pope simply removed them,” he explained. “This is also a message to the bishops: do the same thing in your dioceses.”**
Praying that happens with a new Archbishop here.
God bless our beloved and great Pope.
I will forever miss and love him.
There are approximately 250,000 Catholics in Kazakhstan out of a population of 15 million.[1] Most Catholics in the country are ethnic Poles, Germans and Lithuanians.[2] There are also 3,000 Greek Catholics in the country.[2
most of them were sent there by Stalin, of course, and there were a lot of Catholic Philipinos working in the oil fields before the riots a few years ago.
Our bishop had already given his resignation before the manure hit the fan, the comptroller was borrowing from Peter to pay Paul but was never repaying Peter. All to support the lavish lifesyle of the bishop and his minions.
Our new bishop will be installed tomorrow, he has already rescinded some huge increases in insurance premiums.
Shows you what I know. Next time I’ll go to Wikipedia before I open my big mouth. I knew there were a lot of overseas Filipinos from my years in the Middle East. I would’ve thought that those Stans would be pretty hostile towards Catholics. My first ever overseas tour was in the Philippines and the Filipinos will always have a special place in my heart.
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