A retired Brazilian bishop has received a directive from Rome that he should leave the prelature that he served before his successor is installed.
Bishop José Luis Azcona led the Prelature of Marajo, at the mouth of the Amazon River, from 1987 to 2016. After his retirement at the age of 76, he participated in the Amazon Synod, emerging as a conservative voice in that gathering.
Bishop Azcona has now revealed that the apostolic nuncio in Brazil, Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, asked him to leave the territory before the installation of Bishop José Ionilton Lisboa de Oliveira, who was appointed by Pope Francis in November.
(Bishop Azcona had remained in the Marajo area after his retirement, when the prelature was led by Bishop Evaristo Spengler, who was given a new assignment this year as Bishop of Roraima.)