Timeline: Papal-critique and 'resistance' media, Joseph Strickland

In a message published by Pillars of Faith, Strickland objected to Pope Leo XIV's appointment of Cardinal Blase Cupich to a Vatican City governing body, while stating that he was not speaking in rebellion and remained loyal to the papal office.

The Pillar reported that a letter from Strickland addressed to priests and distributed at an event at Mar-a-Lago urged them to take St. Peter Damian as a model and criticised Pope Francis. The Pillar also published an analysis asking whether his stance amounted to schism.

While the US bishops met in Baltimore in November 2024, Strickland issued an open letter criticising Pope Francis and accusing fellow bishops of silence, OSV News reported.

The Holy See announced that Pope Francis had relieved Bishop Joseph Strickland of the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, and named Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin apostolic administrator. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo said Strickland had declined a request to resign two days earlier; the Vatican gave no public reason.

At the Rome Life Forum, Strickland read from a letter by an unnamed friend that, according to OSV News, called Pope Francis a usurper of Peter's chair, and himself accused the pope of backing an attack on the sacred.

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler posted that he accepted Francis as pope but rejected what he called the pope's program of undermining the Deposit of Faith. OSV News reported that the post followed his endorsement of Fr. Robert Spitzer's decision to cut ties with podcaster Patrick Coffin, who had questioned the authenticity of Francis's papacy.