Pope dismisses Slovakian archbishop from pastoral office [CWN]

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For the 4th time in just over one year, Pope Benedict XVI has forced a bishop from office. The Vatican announced on July 2 that the Pope had removed Archbishop Robert Bezak from his …

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI fired a 52-year-old Slovak bishop for apparently mismanaging his diocese in a rare show of papal power over bishops that could have implications for U.S. sex abuse cases.
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mail.com/news/world/1403390-pope-fires-slovak-bishop-rare-authority.html#.7518-stage-subhero1-4

I read this article and was shocked. I am 100% sure that this article was written with incorrect verbiage.

How does the Pope “fire” a bishop? I don’t think this is true.
 
ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/pope-fires-another-bishop

There’s more going on here than just being ‘removed’.
Observers say there was a feeling in some quarters that Bezák had been too critical of Sokol’s administration, creating a rift compounded by perceptions of an ideological divide. Sokol is generally seen as a deeply conservative and traditional figure, while Bezák is perceived as more modern and moderate.

Some observers reportedly feared a split in the Slovakian church, a community of four million representing three-quarters of the country’s population.

According to Slovakian journalist Andrej Matisak, Bezák spoke briefly about his situation during yesterday’s Sunday Mass in Trnava, saying only that he had been instructed not to speak to the media, that he had been given no reason for his dismissal, and that he was supposed to leave Trnava.
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Calm down folks - it is a secular news source, they are simply using verbiage that the average reader can understand. It’s not a legal document, just a news article.

~Liza
 
We can only speculate about the reasons for the removal of Róbert Bezák as archbishop. The suggestions of a growing rift between traditional and more modern Catholics may well be a factor. If so, I wonder if the young age of Archbishop Bezák played a role. Presumably he would have been archbishop for another 25 years.
YoungTradCath said:
Yeah, well the NCR isn’t exactly a bastion of reliability.
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Generally, I would agree with you. But the article was written by John Allen, and he is known for his objectivity
 
Personally I do not see this as a story about drift between traditional or more modern Catholics in Slovakia and I do not think any fear about a split in Church is necessary or justified at the moment. All it is about is that a well liked, approachable bishop was deposed without any known reason or explanation. There are, naturally, speculations between laity and I think also clergy as people living in the diocese know the situation from various angles and somehow it does not really add up in the moment. Good thing about the situation, in my opinion, is that laity in Slovakia was able to get together and ask “Why?” while keeping all questioning loyal to the Church and pope. All that is asked for is a bit more transparency as there was no obvious reason for this deposition thus leaving people quite confused.

I agree in my limited English ability that the use of the word ‘fired’ is strange in this context (equivalent of fired was never used in Slovak secular media to my knowledge). On the other hand, it might come to mind of people who are not knowledgeable about the Catholic Church in detail when considering that archbishop Bezák was also directly made emeritus, ergo retired and with prohibition to stay in Trnava archdiocese.
 
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