HAS Pope Francis fudged his response to the first real test of his papacy? Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, Bishop of Limburg — dubbed the “Bishop of Bling” by the German media — appears to have got off lightly after splurging €31m on a luxurious new home.

A German bishop under fire for heavy spending is in Rome for talks at the Vatican, placing his future in the hands of a Pope who has espoused a simple lifestyle.

The Roman Catholic Church in Germany is to permit certain types of morning-after pill for raped women, after two hospitals provoked an outcry for refusing to treat a rape victim.

THE Catholic Church paedophile scandal is moving like a contagion from one country to another, but the implications of the German complaints are potentially more damaging to the Vatican than any others.

THE head of Germany’s Catholic Church apologised to victims of child abuse by priests and said after meeting Pope Benedict yesterday the pontiff had encouraged him to press ahead with tough new measures.