Pope Francis Fires Tennessee Bishop After Vatican-Led Investigation
The Vatican announced on Wednesday that Pope Francis has fired the Roman Catholic bishop of Memphis, Bishop Martin Holley. This, after Holley refused to resign following a church investigation of mismanagement in the Tennessee diocese, reported Religion News Service.
The Vatican released a one-line statement on Holley’s firing saying only that Holley has been “removed from pastoral governance.”
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville (seen below) will run the diocese in Holley’s absence, the Vatican said.
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The Diocese of Memphis said Holley’s removal follows an “apostolic visitation” — a term used in the church for a Vatican-led investigation — in June 2018. The diocese added that there had been “several efforts to restore peace and serenity,” which clearly was unsuccessful.
Kurtz stated, “I am eager to work with the priests, curia, and faithful of the Diocese of Memphis to promote stability, peace, and healing until Pope Francis appoints a new bishop.”
The archbishop continued, “I ask for prayers for Bishop Martin Holley as he departs from this local church and for the entire Church of Memphis. Let us pray for one another during this time of transition.”
The 63-year-old bishop was named as an auxiliary, or assistant, in Washington in 2004 under formal Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, whose canonical trial on sexual abuse allegations is currently underway at the Vatican, and will possibly lead to McCarrick’s defrocking.
National Catholic Reporter wrote that soon after Francis sent Holley to head the Memphis Diocese in October 2016, Holley ordered the transfer of some 75% of the diocese’s pastors. The diocese has around 65,000 Catholics and 42 parishes.
Two U.S. archbishops, Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul-Minneapolis, and Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, were sent by the Vatican on a three-day investigation, known as a visitation back in June, to determine what was going on in Memphis and what steps would need to be taken to find a resolution.
Local news sources also said that the investigators had been looking at Holley’s decision to bring in a Canadian priest, the Rev. Clement Machado, to serve as his vicar general -which is equivalent to a chief of staff.
Wednesday, the Vatican gave no indication of what the visitation may have found, and no cannon law was cited as justification for Holley’s removal.
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