ROME (AP) — 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 and money laundering charges.
Bishop Emanuel Shaleta pleaded not guilty to 17 felony charges during his arraignment in court in El Cajon on Monday. Many of his supporters were present.
Shaleta is accused of embezzling $270,000 from the St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in El Cajon.
Shaleta was detained March 5 at the San Diego International Airport, attempting to leave the country, and jailed, the San Diego County Sheriff’s office had said. The office said it acted after someone from Shaleta’s church provided a statement and documentation “showing potential embezzlement from the church.”
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The judge set bail at $125,000. Prosecutor Joel Madero said Shaleta was a flight risk, but his attorney said the flight was pre-planned.
During a recent Mass, Shaleta addressed allegations against him, saying he has never “abused any penny of the church money.”
“On the contrary, I have done my best to preserve and manage the donations of the church properly," he said at the time.
Shaleta's lawyer, Sharon Appelbaum, said she planned on showing that the allegations were false. The priests of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle released a statement in solidarity with Shaleta.
Madero, the prosecutor, said the allegations against Shaleta are connected to monthly rental payments of over $30,000 from a tenant of the church’s social hall that allegedly were missing. He said there were discrepancies in church accounts. He said Shaleta “provided completely unreasonable tales of where that money was going” and could not give proof of where it went.
The Vatican said in its daily bulletin Tuesday that Leo had accepted Shaleta’s resignation under the code of canon law for Eastern Rite churches, which 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.
