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VATICAN CITY  (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the early retirement of a U.S. bishop who has denounced nuns for sponsoring lectures by gay-rights advocates and directed priests to deny communion to abortion backers, the Vatican said Monday.

The brief announcement, keeping to Vatican tradition, did not say why the staunchly conservative Monsignor Joseph Martino, 63, Bishop of Scranton, Pennsylvania, had submitted his resignation. He took up the post in 2003.

Under canon law, which contain the "rules" of the Catholic church, bishops are expected to offer their resignation when they turn 75, but the pope sometimes asks bishops to stay on beyond that age.

The Vatican said that the pope had accepted the resignation under a provision of canon law in which a bishop due to illness or "some other grave reason, has become unsuited" to carry out his duties, in which case the bishop is "earnestly requested to offer his resignation from office."

A spokesman for the Vatican declined to elaborate on the resignation because the Diocese of Scranton had announced it will hold a news conference later in the day.

The resignation came as no surprise. A local newspaper reported last week that workers removed furniture from Martino's residence in Scranton.

The pope also accepted the resignation of Scranton's auxiliary bishop John Dougherty for reasons of age. No new appointments were announced.

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