The Roman Catholic church has dismissed a bishop in the Democratic
Republic of Congo for mismanagement, the Vatican said on Thursday.
Pope
Benedict XVI "has withdrawn from Mgr Jean-Claude Makaya Loemba the
pastoral charge of the diocese of Pointe-Noire", it said in a statement.
It
said that this rare move was motivated by "serious problems of
management within the diocese, among others economic management" and by
"acute tensions within the diocese", according to the Vatican, which
said there was no issue of sexual morals involved.
The religious
news agency I-Media quoted Vatican sources to the effect that the
management at Pointe-Noire had been disastrous and the prelate did not
enjoy the confidence of his clergy.
Makaya Loemba, 56, was
ordained a priest in 1983, and appointed bishop of his diocese of
origin in December 1995 by Pope John Paul II.
I-Media said the unusual circumstances in which the bishop quit his post suggested he refused to resign.
The same procedure was used in January 1995 when John Paul II fired the bishop of Evreux, in France, Mgr Jacques Gaillot.
In
recent months several bishops in central and western Africa - the
Central African Republic, Benin and Burkina Faso - have resigned.
No
official reasons were given but many prelates, often the young ones,
have to quit over problems of management, sexual behaviour or
incompatible religious activities or beliefs.