Nienstedt Resigns: "My Leadership Has Unfortunately Drawn Attention Away from the Good Works of His Church"

This is news to which to wake up on a Monday morning: the archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis, John Nienstedt, and his deputy archbishop Lee Anthony Piché, have resigned, as the archdiocese they lead is under criminal investigation. Nicole Winfield reports for AP.

At her blog site, Jennifer Haselberger, the former Chancellor for Canonical Affairs for the archdiocese who resigned in 2013 after having blown the whistle on the cover-up of clerical sexual abuse of minors by top archiocesan officials, provides a copy of an email Ninestedt sent to priests in the archdiocese early today. In the email, Nienstedt informs the priests of the archdiocese that he and Piché had submitted resignation letters to Pope Francis, who has accepted them.

As I say, this is news. It's a story that many of us here have been following with interest for some time now. I suspect we'll continue following it with interest after this development.

The photo of Archbishop Nienstedt by Glen Stubbe of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune heads an open letter that University of St. Thomas law school professor Hank Shea, formerly assistant U.S. attorney for Minnesota, wrote Nienstedt several days ago pleading with him to resign for the good of the local church.