Former Bishop Michael Hoeppner
ROME – A Roman Catholic diocese in Minnesota says Pope Francis asked its bishop to resign after he was investigated by the Vatican for allegedly interfering with past investigations into clergy sexual abuse.
Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael Hoeppner on Tuesday and named a temporary replacement to run the Crookston diocese. The diocese said in a statement that Francis had asked Hoeppner to resign and that the Vatican probe found the bishop had “at times failed to observe applicable norms when presented with allegations of sexual abuse.”
Hoeppner is accused of stating that a priest was fit for ministry despite allegedly knowing the priest had abused a 16-year-old boy in the early 1970s.
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