Pope John Paul has accepted the resignation of the Roman Catholic bishop of Phoenix, Arizona, Thomas O'Brien, who was arrested on hit-and-run charges, the Vatican said on Wednesday.
A brief Vatican statement said the pope had accepted O'Brien's resignation according to a norm of Catholic law which says bishops should resign if they are incapable of carrying out their duties for "serious" reasons.
O'Brien, 67, was free on a $45,000 bond after being charged with leaving the scene of an accident on Saturday night which left a 43-year-old jaywalking pedestrian dead on a Phoenix street.
His arrest compounded the misery for a church already reeling from a controversial immunity deal in a priestly child abuse scandal.
Police were trying to reconstruct O'Brien's activities before the accident, and to try to determine whether alcohol was a factor, which could potentially lead to more serious charges.
O'Brien told police he thought he had hit a dog or that someone had thrown a rock at his car, badly damaging the windshield. The bishop's car was traced through a witness and he was arrested 36 hours after the accident. A second vehicle which also struck the man is still being sought.
O'Brien's arrest was met with shock and disbelief by a community still angry at the unprecedented deal the bishop cut two weeks ago that saved him from prosecution in exchange for admitting he had allowed priests accused of child sexual abuse to work with minors in other posts without disclosing the allegations.
O'Brien came under increasing pressure to resign after the deal, which followed a year-long investigation involving 45 priests and 25 other church workers.
The Phoenix diocese has pledged its full cooperation in the investigation but has said little else.
According to court papers, O'Brien failed to contact police on Sunday despite being told detectives were trying to find him.