AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

James Robertson
June 10, 2012

A DISSIDENT Catholic bishop who criticised the church’s ”authoritarian” nature and doctrines on celibacy and female priests has resigned.

Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Patrick Power, an auxiliary bishop of the Canberra-Goulburn archdiocese, on Thursday, five years before he reached the church’s mandatory retirement age of 75.

Bishop Power had criticised the church’s response to sexual abuse scandals and called for its systemic reform.