Church excesses - Bishop called to account

A scandal around the byzantine ways of the Catholic Church in Germany makes the excesses of our own former Bishop Eamon Casey seem positively frugal.

The Bishop of Limburg, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, has been summoned to Rome to explain cost overruns on his bishop’s palace and other gross extravagances.

He has caused a crisis in the German Church for building a luxury residence at a time when Pope Francis is stressing humility and service to the poor.