Pope meets with embattled German bishop to discuss diocesan spending

October 21, 2013

Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg, Germany, met with Pope Francis on October 21.

Bishop Tebartz-van Elst has been under pressure to resign because of complaints about his heavy spending on the remodeling of his residence and a diocesan office building. The bishop has defended the building project, while his critics described the spending--which vastly exceeded original estimates-- as "lavish." The bishop is also under fire for allegedly submitting false testimony in a court case against a publication that detailed his spending.

Bishop Tebartz-van Elst traveled to Rome last week, waiting for an audience with the Pontiff, while the president of the German bishops' conference, Archbishop Robert Zollisch, briefed the Pope on the furor in Germany. Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne, the head of the metropolitan region in which the Limburg diocese is located, also met with Pope Francis on October 21.

 

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Further information:

• Pope Meets With 'Bishop of Bling' Over Lavish Renovations (ABC)
• Audiences (VIS)
• Head of German bishops' conference meets with Pope; Limburg diocese on the agenda? (CWN, 10/17)