MINNESOTA
Towleroad
John Nienstedt, the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, has resigned after prosecutors filed criminal charges against the Twin Cities’ archdiocese this month for its role in “failing to protect children” from predatory priests.
Nienstedt, who spearheaded an anti-gay DVD mailer campaign in 2010, told the mother of a gay son that she must reject him or risk burning in hell, and claimed Satan is behind same-sex marriage, was himself accused of inappropriately touching an underage male back in 2013.
The Guardian reports:
The Vatican said on Monday that Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and auxiliary bishop Lee Anthony Piche. They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.
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