-- Rome -- Pope Francis has aaccepted the resignation of a Minnesota bishop who had been the subject of a Vatican inquiry for alleged coverup of clerical sexual abuse.
The Press Office of the Holy See announced on Tuesday at noon Rome Time that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael Hoeppner, and named the 78 year-old Bishop-emeritus of Des Moines, Iowa, Richard Pates, as Apostolic Administrator of Crookston.
The two-sentence statement from the Press Office gives no reason for the resignation, but Bishop Hoeppner is 71, four years shy of the normal retirement age for bishops, and had been investigated for abuse coverup under the reform law Pope Francis enacted to streamline coverup inquiries, Vos estis lux mundi.
