Last week, white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel before Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was announced as Pope Francis’ successor.
Millions around the world are now waiting to see if Pope Leo XIV will continue the legacy of his progressive predecessor or refocus the Catholic Church on tradition and orthodoxy.
LifeSiteNews CEO and co-founder John-Henry Westen tells Glenn Beck that one specific thing will tell us which direction this papacy is going: whether or not Pope Leo XIV reinstates Bishop Joseph Strickland.
“In the Catholic world, Bishop Strickland was the holiest bishop in the whole church in America. Everybody knew it,” says Westen.
“He got removed, though, because he went up against the machine. Francis was going anti-Catholic in his teaching on all sorts of issues, including fooling around with abortion, contraception, homosexuality, divorce … and Strickland was one of the only ones who spoke up,” he explains, adding that his removal was a devastating event, considering “700 families” as well as “all sorts of priests and religious orders” moved to Tyler, Texas, just for him.
Unlike many dioceses, Strickland’s “had the best numbers in terms of per capita seminarians”; its “financial situation was in great shape”; and it “[didn’t’] have any sexual abuse scandal,” says Westen.
He, along with a great many others, suspects that Strickland’s removal, which was supported by then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, was almost certainly political retribution for speaking out against Pope Francis.
The biggest indicator of the direction of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy, therefore, is whether he restores Bishop Strickland to his position in the Diocese of Tyler.
“All America — in fact all the world — should be looking for is the restoration of Bishop Strickland,” says Westen. It’s “the true signal, the one sign that will indicate where Pope Leo XIV is coming from.”
“If that man is not reinstated, there’s something really wrong,” he tells Glenn.
“Are there any good signs that maybe he’s going to be different?” Glenn asks, noting that Pope Leo XIV “has been railing against Donald Trump.”
“He’s a registered Republican in Chicago … but at the same time, he’s anti-Trump,” says Westen. Similar to Francis, “he’s real bad on immigration.”
Further, during the pandemic when Prevost was a bishop in Peru, he allegedly imposed restrictions such as requiring communion to be received in the hand rather than on the tongue and promoted confessions by telephone.
However, “there are some signs of hope,” says Westen.
For example, when Pope Leo XIV first emerged on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, he was wearing “traditional vestments,” unlike Francis, who wore “liturgical underwear.”
He also spoke in Latin — a tradition that has largely given way to the modern practice of speaking in vernacular languages.
Does this signify his intent to return to Catholic tradition?
“We’ll see,” says Westen.
However, there was one thing Pope Leo XIV did that gave him more hope than anything else. To hear it, watch the clip above.
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