Pope Accepts Resignation Of Bishop Accused And Arrested For Stealing $250,000

Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of the Chaldean Catholic bishop of San Diego, California, a decision announced Tuesday by the Vatican after the bishop was arrested on embezzlement charges.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said last week it had arrested Bishop Emmanuel Shaleta on March 5 at San Diego International Airport as he tried to leave the country. The office said it acted after someone from Shaleta’s church provided a statement and documentation “showing potential embezzlement from the church.”

Shaleta was being held on $125,000 bail on eight counts of embezzlement, money laundering and aggravated white collar crime, the statement said.

There was no immediate reply to an email sent to Shaleta’s parish, St. Peter Chaldean Church, seeking comment and contact information for his attorney.

The Vatican said in its daily bulletin Tuesday that Leo had accepted Sheleta’s resignation under the code of canon law for eastern rite churches that allows for the pope to agree if a bishop asks to step down.

Leo actually accepted the resignation when Shaleta presented it in February, but an announcement was not made until Tuesday, according to the Vatican embassy in Washington. The Holy See appears to have waited to announce the decision to avoid interfering with the police investigation.

Leo named Bishop Saad Hanna Sirop as a temporary administrator.

Shaleta, 69, was ordained a priest of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Detroit in 1984. He was named to the San Diego branch of the eastern rite Catholic Church in the U.S. in 2017.

Meanwhile Pope Leo said on Sunday that deeply troubling news continued to arrive from Iran and across the Middle East, urging an end to the violence and renewed efforts to open space for dialogue.

As fighting escalated on the ninth day of the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran, the first U.S. pope warned that the conflict was fuelling fear and hatred and raised concerns that it could spread further.

“Alongside the episodes of violence and devastation and the widespread climate of hatred and fear, there is also growing concern that the conflict could spread and that other countries in the region, including dear Lebanon, could once again sink into instability,” Leo said at the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.

“Let us raise our humble prayer to the Lord that the roar of bombs may cease, that weapons may fall silent, and that space may be opened for dialogue in which the voices of peoples can be heard”, he added.