The pope has accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop whose diocese has been rocked by reports of a sex party involving a male prostitute in a priest's apartment.
The Vatican gave no formal reason for why Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak was resigning as head of the diocese of Sosnowiec, in south-western Poland.
He is 16 years short of the normal retirement age of 75.
His diocese has been in the spotlight again after one of his priests was placed under criminal investigation over an August 30-31 incident at his apartment in Dabrowa Gornicza that allegedly involved a male prostitute.
Polish media reported that one of the participants of a sex party at the home collapsed after overdosing on erectile dysfunction pills. The reports said the priest allegedly tried to initially bar paramedics from entering the apartment.
Waldemar Lubniewski, spokesman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Sosnowiec, said the investigation focused on a "failure to provide assistance to a person in a situation that poses an immediate threat of loss of life or serious damage to health".
The event has been widely described as a "gay orgy", further harming the image of the church in the once-staunchly Roman Catholic homeland of St John Paul II.
It was not the first incident involving clergy in the diocese to make headlines, suggesting the sex scandal was the final straw for the Vatican.
Pope Francis moved with unusual speed to remove Mr Kaszak after the bishop said he had offered to resign on September 29.
In 2010, the then-acting rector of the Sosnowiec seminary allegedly got into a scuffle at a gay club, but was allowed to remain in his job for over a year even after the case was publicised by Polish media.
The Holy See finally intervened and dissolved the seminary altogether, according to the PAP news agency.
In March this year, the corpse of a 26-year-old deacon was found with injuries suggesting homicide. Local prosecutors said he had been killed by a 40-year-old priest who then committed suicide.
Prosecutors said the two had been in a turbulent relationship for some time and that the priest had sent the deacon threatening messages, PAP reported.
In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Kaszak said he had asked the Pope to let him resign in a letter on September 29. He thanked the priests and nuns of his diocese and asked "everyone to forgive my human limitations".
He was appointed bishop in 2009 by then-Pope Benedict XVI, after serving briefly as the number two in the Vatican's family office.
The diocese, which identified the priest involved in the incident as Fr Tomasz Z, has largely corroborated the media reports, saying an outside investigative commission concluded he committed "a very serious violation of moral norms", as well as of his obligations as a priest.
It cited an "incident" at the priest's apartment involving him and at least two other lay people.
Mr Kaszak dismissed the priest from all functions on September 21 and initiated an in-house canonical trial, the outcome of which could result in defrocking, according to a statement on the diocesan website.
The priest has not been charged by Polish prosecutors. Polish media quoted a statement he issued soon after the scandal erupted, denying he had prevented paramedics from accessing his apartment and questioning the definition of "orgy".
The Vatican embassy in Poland said a temporary administrator, Archbishop Adrian Galbas of Katowice, will run the diocese of Sosnowiec until a new bishop is named.
