CNA Staff, Mar 25, 2024 / 15:00 pm
A diocese in England has announced that it will undertake “no canonical action” against a priest whose installation as bishop of Plymouth was canceled without explanation earlier this year.
The Diocese of Plymouth had said in a statement in early February that the ordination of Plymouth Bishop-elect Christopher Whitehead, at the time a priest in the nearby Diocese of Clifton, would “not take place” on Feb. 22 as had been previously scheduled.
“A canonical process is currently underway, and no further comments will be made until this has been concluded,” the diocese said at the time, noting that Whitehead himself had “stepped back from active ministry whilst this process is ongoing.”
In the wake of the announcement, the Plymouth Diocese had quickly moved to scrub its website of nearly all references to the bishop-elect. An earlier interview with Whitehead, as well as a Christmas message from the bishop-elect, were both missing from the site after the cancellation was announced, as was the December announcement of Whitehead’s appointment by Pope Francis.