An Argentine archbishop has issued a message of support for priests who have been “cancelled” because of their support for traditional Catholic beliefs.

Archbishop Hector Aguer, the retired head of the La Plato archdiocese, decried the rising number of cases in which priests who celebrate the Latin Mass, or defend unpopular Church doctrines, are “left without a normal pastoral office entrusted to them.”

In the latest clear public criticism of the leadership of Pope Francis by a ranking prelate, Archbishop Aguer said that the removal of Bishop Daniel Fernandez from the Diocese of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, was “scandalous.”

The Argentine archbishop served alongside the future Pontiff in the 1990s, when both were auxiliary bishops of Buenos Aires, and was named Archbishop of La Plata shortly after then-Archbishop Bergoglio was installed as Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998. Archbishop Auer’s resignation was accepted by Pope Francis on his 75th birthday.