Pope sacks key Benedict XVI protege

Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has removed a key protege of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI from the Vatican’s liturgy office and sent him back to his native Spain.

In 2008, Benedict appointed Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera as prefect of the Congregation for the Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.

The office is in charge of regulating how Masses and other sacraments are celebrated, and under Benedict’s papacy took on a more conservative and traditional bent.

Francis, who favors a less traditional style and has chafed at some Vatican liturgical rules, on Thursday named Canizares Llovera archbishop of Valencia, Spain.

No replacement was named.

Last year, Francis removed another archconservative Benedict appointee who had been responsible for the world’s priests.