Pope Leo XIV has accumulated 21 early episcopal resignations during his first fifteen months as pontiff, compared to the 87 recorded during Francis’s slightly more than twelve years, according to an investigation by Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez published by Los Angeles Press.
The study includes in this category departures that occurred before the ordinary retirement age, as well as other disciplinary measures and cases of bishops-elect who never received episcopal consecration.
The figure represents a considerably higher rate than that recorded during the previous pontificate, although the Holy See does not publicly identify all these departures as forced resignations.
The investigation maintains that Francis forced 36 bishops out during his last two years and counts at least 87 cases throughout his pontificate.
The acceleration had already begun before Leo XIV’s election: between 2023, 2024 and the first weeks of 2025, 30 resignations classified by the study as “early” or “forced” were documented, a period that coincides with Robert Prevost’s tenure at the Dicastery for Bishops.
Prevost’s role before becoming Pope
Francis brought Prevost from the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, to Rome at the beginning of 2023 to place him at the head of the body responsible, among other functions, for intervening in the complex process of selecting new bishops.
His position also gave him a relevant role in monitoring serving prelates. Soriano-Núñez therefore considers it “almost impossible” to understand the thirty early resignations recorded during Francis’s final years without taking into account the participation and opinion of the then-prefect.
The trend has intensified since his election as Pope. The 21 cases in fifteen months equate to an annualized rate of approximately 16.8 departures, compared to about 7.2 if the 87 cases attributed to Francis are spread across his slightly more than twelve years as pontiff.
The comparison requires caution: a complete pontificate is being contrasted with barely the first fifteen months of the current one.
Nevertheless, the data do show that, so far, the rate under Leo XIV far exceeds the average of his predecessor.
From the American continent to Europe, Africa and Asia
The geographical distribution of these departures has also changed.
According to the investigation, during Francis’s pontificate they were concentrated especially in the Western Hemisphere. The United States, Argentina and Chile together accounted for more than 40% of the cases recorded.
Under Leo XIV, by contrast, Europe accounts for 42.9%, while cases have also spread across Francophone Africa and East Asia, which together represent another 33.3%.
The study uses early episcopal resignations as one of the indicators to examine structural problems in dioceses, including those related to sexual abuse and its cover-up.
The method itself, however, requires distinguishing between the different cases: resignation before the age of 75 does not necessarily imply a sanction nor does it by itself prove the existence of irregularities.
Canon Law provides that a bishop may submit an early resignation due to illness or other grave cause, while at the age of 75 he must submit it to the Roman Pontiff.
When the appointment fails before consecration
One of the changes highlighted by Soriano-Núñez during the current pontificate occurs even before some candidates are consecrated bishops.
The investigation cites the cases of Krzysztof Dukielski, appointed to Radom, Poland; Matthew Choi Kwang-hee, named for Seoul, South Korea; and Gerardo Fortich Saco Jr., elected for Tagbilaran, Philippines. All three ultimately stepped aside before receiving episcopal consecration.
These episodes raise a different issue from the possible mismanagement of a bishop after years at the head of a diocese: the suitability of the candidate and the filters applied before making the appointment public.
Precisely the episcopal selection process was one of Prevost’s main responsibilities since his arrival at the Dicastery for Bishops.
The body gathers and evaluates information on candidates before submitting proposals to the Pope, who ultimately makes the appointments.
The differences between an early resignation and a removal
The main difficulty in interpreting the figures lies in determining what actually happened behind each departure.
Official announcements from the Holy See usually limit themselves to stating that the Pope has “accepted the resignation from pastoral governance” presented by a particular bishop, without necessarily specifying the circumstances that led to that decision.
For this reason, early resignation, forced resignation and removal are not equivalent terms.
A bishop may leave a diocese before the age of 75 due to illness, inability to continue performing his duties, personal reasons, governance difficulties or as a consequence of an intervention from Rome.
The mere publication of an early resignation does not reveal which of these situations occurred unless additional information exists.
A recent example is Msgr. Karl-Heinz Wiesemann, bishop of Speyer, Germany, whose resignation Leo XIV accepted at the age of 66.
In this case, the prelate himself publicly explained that episcopal responsibility had taken a serious toll on him physically and psychologically and that he had personally requested to step down.
The Los Angeles Press investigation precisely highlights the lack of public information as one of the obstacles to understanding the real scope of the problems that lead to early episcopal resignations.
Soriano-Núñez links this opacity especially to the difficulty of measuring the incidence of sexual abuse and other governance problems within dioceses.
A problem that begins with selection
The succession of early resignations also raises a question about the very system by which Rome selects those who will later govern the dioceses.
If a prelate must leave office only a few years after his appointment—or a candidate resigns even before receiving consecration—it is reasonable to ask to what extent the prior procedures adequately assessed his suitability and circumstances.
The increase did not begin with Leo XIV. The 30 cases recorded during 2023, 2024 and the first weeks of 2025 show that the trend had already accelerated during Francis’s final stage, precisely while Prevost headed the Dicastery for Bishops.
The first fifteen months of the new pontificate, however, show that this dynamic has not slowed. With 21 early departures recorded, Leo XIV so far maintains a rate more than twice the annual average registered during Francis’s pontificate.
The specific nature of each case requires individual examination and does not allow them to be collectively labeled as removals, but the frequency of these departures once again places both the governance of dioceses and the process by which Rome chooses its bishops under scrutiny.