BATON ROUGE – Per Catholic Church policy, Bishop Robert Muench is expected to submit his retirement to the Pope on his 75th birthday – December 28th.

Church policy – called Canons – calls for bishops to resign their post upon turning 75.

Bishop Muench has served since 2001 when Pope John Paul II appointed him.

Sources told WBRZ, the current pope - Pope Francis - has a practice of not accepting resignations or retirements until a successor is found. It's not clear if there is an immediate successor to replace Bishop Muench, the 5th bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge.

"Only when Bishop Muench receives a reply from Pope Frances indicating the date of acceptance of the resignation will his resignation become effective. It is impossible to predict how long this process will take," a spokesperson said. 

Bishop Muench grew up in New Orleans.

Most recently he shepherded the diocese through change when a series of Catholic church parishes were closed.  

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