Robert Byrne of Hexham and Newcastle announced his resignation on Dec. 12. The bishop wrote, “St. John Paul II observed: ‘What does the Lord require of us? What does the Lord require of me?’ . . .  I have concluded that the office of the diocesan bishop has become too great a burden.” Appointed by Pope Francis in 2019, Byrne was the first Oratorian priest since 1874 to become a bishop.