Pope Francis
Pope Francis has given a group of Nigerian priests 30 days to pledge obedience to him and accept a bishop appointed for their diocese – or risk being suspended, the Associated Press has reported.
The pontiff met, on June 8, a delegation from the Ahiara diocese in Imo State, where priests have been refusing to accept the 2012 appointment by then pontiff, Benedict XVI, of the local bishop, Peter Okpaleke.
Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reported, on Sunday, that Pope Francis was acting “for the good of the people of God” by threatening to suspend the priests from the ministry if they did not pledge in a letter, by July 9, “total obedience” and accept Bishop Okpaleke’s appointment.
The Vatican issued only a short statement on the meeting, describing the situation in the diocese as “unacceptable”, the Catholic Herald reported.
The protests were motivated by the fact that Bishop Okpaleke is not a local priest, it added.
The newspaper quoted the Pope as saying that every priest of the diocese must write a letter to him by July 9 asking for forgiveness and “must clearly manifest total obedience to the Pope” – or else he would be suspended and would lose his office.
Pope Francis said he was taking a tough line because “the people of God are scandalised. Jesus reminds us that whoever causes scandal must suffer the consequences”, the Catholic Herald quoted the Pope as saying.
Vatican observers have described Pope Francis’ ultimatum to the Nigerian priests as unusual, given that Popes normally defer to local governance in the form of national cardinals.
However, they pointed out the fact that Pope Francis has recently intervened in another area – that of Knights of Malta Chivalric Order.
Pope Francis is generally seeking a more compassionate approach to ministry, but many have made the mistake of assuming that this suggests he is theologically liberal. He is not, Vatican analysts concluded.
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His eminence probably feels we are still under colonial rule...lol. Where is that democratic choice? Or is it an autocratic or a dictatorship kind of system? I may not understand how the system works but the bottom line is subjects must be obedient therefore, the priests must eat humble pie by dancing to the tune of their master for peace to reign supreme.