Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

Pope Benedict XVI removed Bishop William M. Morris of Toowoomba, Australia, from office five years after he wrote a pastoral letter indicating he would be open to ordaining women and married men if church rules changed to allow such a possibility. In an open letter to Catholics in his diocese released on May 1, Bishop Morris said the 2006 letter “has been misread and, I believe, deliberately misinterpreted” by a small group within the diocese. He said he did not offer to resign as “a matter of conscience” because “my resignation would mean that I accept the assessment of myself as breaking ‘communio,’ which I absolutely refute and reject.” In a statement released on May 3 supporting Bishop Morris, the National Council of Priests of Australia said: “We are appalled at the lack of transparency and due process that led to this decision by church authorities.”

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024