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.

An initial audit of his spending, ordered after a Vatican monitor visited Limburg last month, revealed the project costs at least €31m.

About 70% of Church revenues come from Church tax in Germany.

Considering that it is one of the few countries that still uses taxpayer money to fund religious institutions, it may be that the bishop should be more worried about Angela Merkel than the Pope.