Posted on 10/23/2013 6:11:09 AM PDT by NYer
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis temporarily expelled a German bishop from his diocese on Wednesday because of a scandal over a 31-million-euro project to build a new residence complex, but refused popular calls to remove him permanently.
The Vatican didn't say how long Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst would spend away from the diocese of Limburg and gave no information on where he would go or what he would do. It said his fate would ultimately be decided by the outcome of a church commission investigation into the expenditures.
It said Limburg's vicar general, the Rev. Wolfgang Roesch, who had been due to take up his duties on Jan. 1, would start immediately and would run the diocese during Tebartz-van Elst's absence.
At the center of the controversy is the 31-million-euro ($42 million) price tag for the construction of a new bishop's residence complex and related renovations. Tebartz-van Elst has said the bill was actually for 10 projects and there were additional costs because of regulations on buildings under historical protection.
The Limburg scandal has been front-page news for weeks in the country where Martin Luther launched the Reformation five centuries ago in response to what he said were excesses and abuses within the church. The perceived lack of financial transparency has also struck a chord since a church tax in Germany brings in billions of euros a year to the German church.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Sensationalized mainstream media report, ping! Kudos to Pope Francis for taking swift (by Vatican standards) action.
this dude has been seduced by the devil
This bishop was a scandal - I’m in Europe, and I’ve been reading about his $24,000 bathtub, etc. This is particularly sad, because he was appointed by BXVI, and the other German bishops (very liberal) have been looking for opportunities to trash the former Pope over something he did while in office.
Ping for later
Pope Francis will bring this bishop down to earth. Most Catholic clergy live very modest lives, especially parish
priests. Catholics have a heirarchy they have to answer to if they get out of hand, unlike protestant preachers. Who will Joel Osteen answer to for milking his robotic followers out of 50 million dollars. I could name more of those televangelists just like Osteen. Or how about the granddaddy of all protestant preachers, Billy Graham, who’s net value is 25 million. He lives in a log home valued at a couple million, sitting on prime real estate in the NC mountains. All this money made from “preaching” the gospel. There is one person these filthy rich preachers will have to answer to when their time on earth is done. His name is Jesus Christ. I would love to be a fly on the wall.
What drives you to spend time looking up the net worth of people you don’t care for? This is not a Catholic vs Protestant issue from where I sit.
As dad often said - look back far enough and you’ll find a horse thief in every family.
It’s not hard to find examples of men of the cloth behaving badly, regardless of denomination.
FWIU, candidates are pre-qualified by a team before being submitted for approval. That is how so many progressives slipped into positions of power.
We have what's shaping into an interesting situation here in upstate NY. Rochester Bishop Clark turned 75 last year. He was told to step down immediately and administration of the diocese was temporarily turned over to the Diocese of Syracuse. Next week, Clark's fellow seminarian, another uber progressive bishop, Howard Hubbard, will submit his letter of resignation as he turns 75. Both bishop served for 30+ years, during which time they introduced some of the most outlandish novelties into liturgies, wreckovated churches, and closed dozens of churches and schools.
The more conservative catholics in these neighboring dioceses, repeatedly wrote to the Vatican over the span of those 3 decades, to complain about the abuses. Now they have adopted a wait and see attitude. No one has been appointed to Rochester. Albany will soon be up for grabs. Perhaps the impending appointments will shed better light on just how the system works. To make this more interesting, Dolan is Archbishop of NY.
I am glad this dude was out of control he was totally Bling bling Bishop
http://www.news.va/en/news/limburg-bishop-to-stay-outside-of-diocese-for-now
Quote
“The Holy Father has been continually informed in detail and objectively on the situation regarding the diocese of Limburg. In the diocese, a situation has arisen in which Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst cannot, at the present moment, continue to exercise his episcopal ministry.
Following Cardinal Lajolo’s ‘fraternal visit’ in September, the German Bishops’ Conference, in accordance with an agreement between the bishop and the Chapter of Limburg Cathedral, has constituted a Commission to carry out a detailed examination of the matter of the building of the bishop’s residence. Pending the results of this examination and of an analysis of responsibility for the matter, the Holy See considers it appropriate to authorise for Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst a period of stay outside the diocese.
By decision of the Holy See, Stadtdekan Wolfgang Rosch is today appointed as vicar general, an appointment that had previously been announced by the diocese of Limburg as taking effect from 1 January 2014. Vicar General Rosch will administer the diocese of Limburg during the absence of the diocesan bishop, within the sphere of competence associated with this office”.
End Quote
Quote
Pope Francis has authorised a leave of absence for a German bishop at the centre of controversy over expenditures for his residence and diocesan centre.
“A situation has been created in which Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst currently cannot exercise his episcopal ministry,” said a statement October 23 from the Vatican press office.
Pope Francis, after being “continually, broadly and objectively informed” about the situation in the Diocese of Limburg, has authorized “a period of leave outside the diocese,” effective immediately, the statement said.
A priest whom Bishop Tebartz-van Elst had selected as his vicar general will administer the diocese in his absence, the Vatican said.
The bishop has been at the centre of controversy for months over the remodelling and building project in Limburg, which is estimated to have cost about $40 million. German media have dubbed Bishop Tebartz-van Elst the “luxury bishop.”
Pope Francis discussed the situation last week with Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, president of the German bishops’ conference, and later with Bishop Tebartz-van Elst himself.
In early September, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, sent retired Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo to visit the diocese to promote peace between the bishop and some of the diocese’s priests concerned about the project.
After the cardinal’s visit, the bishop agreed to publish figures about the construction project and cooperate with a commission established by the bishops’ conference to audit the project and examine how decisions were made. In most cases, church law requires consultation with a diocesan finance council before large sums of diocesan money can be spent.
The Vatican said that Bishop Tebartz-van Elst would remain outside the diocese until the results of the audit and “the connected verification of responsibility in the matter” were known.
End Quote
A little bit less sensationalistic reporting on the issue.
I’m glad at least that Hubbard and Clark are out or on their way out. They did great damage.
It will be interesting to see what Dolan does, as you say. O’Connor himself was very orthodox, but he seemed to tolerate some complete losers among his bishops. I assume these two were probably appointed under Cooke, but O’Connor certainly didn’t do much to help.
You may recall the sudden death of Albany priest Fr. John Minkler. He had been commissioned by Cardinal O'Connor to keep tabs on the abuses in Albany and report them to him. Following the death of Cardinal O'Connor, the report surfaced and Fr. Minkler was called in to the Chancery. You can read what happened at this link. Scroll down to the original story by Paul Likoudis. One blogger published the original report and I downloaded a copy. The link had been removed by the next day.
Interesting...How many times have we heard in the past that the pope has no control over bishops and their lifestyles...
You know what flies are attracted to, don't you?
You noticed that too?
Some people just hate to hear the truth about those swindlers known as TELEVANGELISTS. Most got their training in Amway.
They are very good at milking old ladies and dummies out of their life savings.
Dolan allows pro-abortion politicians receive communion.
‘nuff said.
Me too....and I’m Catholic. I’m tired of the excuses.
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