Title: Editorial: The first case of ‘Vos Estis’ in action, and it’s fallout
At the request of Pope Francis, Bishop Michael Hoeppner of Crookston, Minnesota, resigned April 13 after an investigation into whether or not Bishop Hoeppner had carried out “acts or omissions intended to interfere with or avoid civil or canonical investigations of clerical sexual misconduct.”
The investigation that led to his resignation stemmed from reports that the bishop “had at times failed to observe applicable norms when presented with allegations of sexual abuse involving clergy of the Diocese of Crookston,” the diocese stated on the day of Bishop Hoeppner’s resignation. To put it in layman’s terms: The bishop was accused of not reporting abuse to Church and civil authorities after it had been reported to him — and even worse, he was said to have tried to coerce a victim into retracting his allegation of abuse (which had been made against a popular priest of the diocese).