Vatican: No church proceedings against German ‘bling bishop’
BERLIN — Germany’s Limburg diocese says the Vatican won’t open church law proceedings or examine possible compensation claims against its former bishop, removed by Pope Francis amid a scandal over his 31 million-euro ($35-million) new residence.
The diocese said earlier this year that it had raised the issue with the Vatican, though it didn’t file any formal complaint against Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst. It said Wednesday that the head of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, informed the diocese’s interim administrator of the decision during a meeting in Rome.
Francis permanently removed Tebartz-van Elst from Limburg last year, finding that he could no longer exercise his ministry there.
That followed a controversy centering on the spiraling cost for the construction of a luxurious new bishop’s residence complex and related renovations.
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This story has been corrected to fix time element to Wednesday, not Thursday.
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