In, ‘Scratching my head about the bishop in Paraguay,’ Fr. Z writes
… while the Supreme Pontiff exercises full jurisdiction in the Church and that his decisions have no appeal, should the Supreme Pontiff want there to be sound rule of law through the Church at every level, he, too, will observe the laws of which he is the Legislator. So, the removal of bishops by the Pope should have some canonical basis. It doesn’t have to, technically, but it really should.
He adds that, “‘Blunt speech’ and ‘voicing an opinion’ are not a canonical basis for removal from office unless the opinion is obviously heresy.”
Finally,
This Argentinian bishop serving in Paraguay will be criticized by liberals for fighting back. But those same liberals praised the Bishop of Toowoomba in Australia for getting all feisty. He, you see, was “prophetic”, but the Paraguayan must be an “ideologue”.