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WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, the former shepherd of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, plans to address the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference‘s annual Ronald Reagan Dinner as a keynote speaker in February, CPAC announced.
Pope Francis removed Bishop Strickland from the pastoral governance of his diocese Nov. 11, without giving a public reason for his removal. However, speculation about his future in the diocese mounted after the bishop’s online posts accusing the pontiff of “undermining the deposit of faith.” The pope’s decision followed Bishop Strickland’s address to an Oct. 31 gathering in Rome, where he read from a letter by a “dear friend” that accused Pope Francis of being a “usurper of Peter’s chair” and then commented that Pope Francis was himself supporting an “attack on the sacred.”
“We are honored to have this courageous Catholic leader take this important role during @CPAC,” Matt Schlapp, CPAC’s chairman and the co-chair of Catholics for Trump in 2020, said in a Jan. 26 post on X, formerly Twitter.
Schlapp was accused last year of sexually assaulting a male campaign aide for Herschel Walker’s failed bid for a Georgia Senate seat in 2022. Schlapp has denied those allegations through his attorney.
Bishop Strickland did not immediately respond to requests for comment from OSV News, but forwarded them to a media representative. OSV News is awaiting a response to questions emailed Jan. 30.
CPAC, once a collection of conservative elected officials, policymakers and commentators of varying ideologies and ideas, has grown increasingly controversial and consolidated into a group of staunch allies and supporters of former President Donald Trump, who frequently speaks at the conference himself.
Continued below.
www.oursundayvisitor.com
Pope Francis removed Bishop Strickland from the pastoral governance of his diocese Nov. 11, without giving a public reason for his removal. However, speculation about his future in the diocese mounted after the bishop’s online posts accusing the pontiff of “undermining the deposit of faith.” The pope’s decision followed Bishop Strickland’s address to an Oct. 31 gathering in Rome, where he read from a letter by a “dear friend” that accused Pope Francis of being a “usurper of Peter’s chair” and then commented that Pope Francis was himself supporting an “attack on the sacred.”
“We are honored to have this courageous Catholic leader take this important role during @CPAC,” Matt Schlapp, CPAC’s chairman and the co-chair of Catholics for Trump in 2020, said in a Jan. 26 post on X, formerly Twitter.
Schlapp was accused last year of sexually assaulting a male campaign aide for Herschel Walker’s failed bid for a Georgia Senate seat in 2022. Schlapp has denied those allegations through his attorney.
Bishop Strickland did not immediately respond to requests for comment from OSV News, but forwarded them to a media representative. OSV News is awaiting a response to questions emailed Jan. 30.
CPAC, once a collection of conservative elected officials, policymakers and commentators of varying ideologies and ideas, has grown increasingly controversial and consolidated into a group of staunch allies and supporters of former President Donald Trump, who frequently speaks at the conference himself.
Continued below.
Bishop removed by pope to address conservative conference
Bishop Joseph Strickland, whom Pope Francis removed from the Tyler, Texas, Diocese in November, is scheduled to give a keynote address Feb. 23 at the Conservative Political Action Conference's annual Ronald Reagan Dinner in National Harbor, Md.
www.oursundayvisitor.com
