On Monday, Pope Francis met with the bishop of Limburg, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst.
The Vatican gave no details with regard to the 20-minute meeting.
Earlier in the day, the Pope said, “Money destroys. It is useful to carry out many good things, works to support humanity, but when your heart is attached to it, it destroys you.”
While the new pope has stressed humility and helping the poor since taking office in March, the “luxury bishop” has reportedly spent 31 million euros (USD 42million) on a luxury home and office.
Bishop Tebartz-van Elst is also accused of twice lying under oath about a reportedly first-class flight he took to India to visit poor children.
On October 15, the bishop flew with Irish budget airline, Ryanair, to meet senior Vatican officials amid mounting calls for his resignation.
The head of the Church in Germany said a commission has been set up to probe the finances of Limburg diocese.
“They’re experts in canon law, finance and construction. They must find out what the building costs should have been and how decisions were made,” said Archbishop Robert Zollitsch.
A church audit says the bishop’s building project in Limburg, near Frankfurt, has gone six times over-budget, featuring a chapel, a museum, private flats, and a 15,000 euro bath.
The apparent financial waste has sent shockwaves across Germany, where active Catholics pay a tax to the Church as part of their income tax. It has also triggered demonstrations outside the bishop’s residence in Limburg.
“It’s catastrophic what the bishop has done. He needs to be deposed for wasting our money like that,” said one local man.
“What the man has done is not good. He needs to be punished for that. You cannot do that with other people’s money, you cannot beg for money all the time and then build a place like that,” added another.
MAM/AB/MAM
Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/21/330607/german-bishop-summoned-to-rome/
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