Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a diocesan bishop in Nigeria who has been at the centre of a long-running dispute in which local priests refused to accept his oversight.
In its daily press bulletin, the Holy See said Pope Francis had accepted the "renunciation" or resignation of the Bishop of Ahiara in Nigeria, Peter Ebere Okpaleke.
Bishop of Umuahia, Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, has been appointed Apostolic Administrator.
Bishop Okpaleke was appointed in 2012 by the then Pope Benedict. He has struggled to function as bishop since because the majority of priests have refused to work with him because he is not a local man.
He even had to be installed outside his cathedral because protestors blocked him from entering.
Ahiara is in Mbaise, a region of Imo State in southern Nigeria. Bishop Okpaleke is from Anambra State, which borders Imo to the north.
Mbaise has more than 400,000 Catholics and one protest petition against the appointment described it as "mind-boggling" that no priest from Mbaise had been made a bishop.
Last summer, Pope Francis delivered an ultimatum, giving the priests of the diocese 30 days to write a letter promising obedience to him and accepting the bishop appointed to their diocese in 2012. Priests who refused to write as instructed faced being suspended. Dozens of priests obeyed, but not enough to restore unity to the diocese.
This was the Pope's second attempt to order the priests to accept the bishop. In a letter dated June 29 2014, Francis warned them to end their "grave act of disobedience."
Agenzia Fides reported that Pope Francis received letters from a number of individual priests promising obedience and fidelity.
Some priests, however, pointed out their psychological difficulty in collaborating with the Bishop after years of conflict. Taking into account their repentance, the Pope Francis decided not to proceed with the canonical sanctions and instructed the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples to respond to each of them. "In this line, the Congregation has urged every priest to reflect on the grave damage inflicted on the Church of Christ and expressed hope that in the future they will never again repeat such unreasonable actions opposing a bishop legitimately appointed by the Supreme Pontiff," reported Fides, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
There are no immediate plans to appoint a new bishop in Ahiara.
Fides reported: "The Holy Father, who accompanies with prayer this new phase in the life of the Church in Ahiara, hopes that, with the new Apostolic Administrator, the local Church will recover its vitality and never again suffer such actions that so wound the Body of Christ."
Pic: Pope Francis leads the Ash Wednesday mass, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. The ritual marks the start of Lent, a period of penitence, prayer and self-sacrifice as faithful prepare for Easter. (Photo by Massimo Valicchia/NurPhoto/PA)
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