Pope Francis Requests and Receives Resignation of Crookston Bishop

CROOKSTON, MN (trfnews.i234.me) The Bishop of the Diocese of Crookston has resigned at the request of Pope Francis, following his handling of sex allegations against clergy members.
pope francis has asked crookston bishop michael hepner to resign it’s been announced today that after an extensive investigation the holy father pope francis asked for and has now accepted the resignation of bishop michael hepner from the pastoral governance of the diocese of crookston the investigation which led to the acceptance of bishop hepner’s resignation arose from reports the he had at times failed to observe applicable norms when presented with allegations of sexual abuse involving clergy of the diocese of crookston the investigation was conducted pursuant to vatican law which had been promulgated by the holy father in mid-2019 the investigation was conducted under the supervision of the archbishop bernard hepta the metropolitan archbishop of the province of saint paul in minneapolis which includes the diocese of crookston at the same time the holy father accepted the resignation of bishop hepner he has also appointed the most reverend richard e pates bishop emeritus of uh des moines to serve as the apostleistic administrator of the diocese of crookston until until a new bishop is designated bishop pate’s appointment as apostolistic administrator takes effect immediately i’m Neil Berg reporting for kroxam.com