One of Pope Francis' new 'credos' is a renewed efforts to 'serve' the poor, as he puts it. One of the latest gripes of the new pontiff is the apparent culture of narcissism and lux life of some of the Vatican's higher prelates.
One of the bishops caught in this 'reformation' by the new pope, is the bishop of Limburg, a wiry, tanned and well heeled prelate who presides over the city of Limburg, in West Germany.
He is accused, among other things, of using Vatican money to fuel a luxurious lifestyle. Reports have surfaced that Bishop Tebartz Van Elst, was presiding over a project that could rack up a 40 billion dollar bill for his new headquarters. He had already, in the past, been accused of living in grand style. He would fly first class to visit in the poor in India, something he is now trying to quell by a defamation lawsuit.
Incidents like this do nothing to better the already waning fortunes of the church, which pope Francis is trying so hard to improve. His emphasis on modesty and austerity are seen as his approach to try to bring back faithful to the fold. To that he has also added a campaign of inclusion that tries to not demonize both gays and out of wedlock mothers, among others.
But organizations like Caritas, which is one of the major sources of revenue for the Vatican, has seen a steep decline in offerings.
The archbishop in Germany, a country where Catholics are taxed for their faith, an edict adopted during the Nazi era, must now try to do damage control if he wishes to revert the the current trend away from the church. He has already said, that the church's credibility is severely damaged, and, with it, its future prospects.
Angela Merkel, herself a proponent of Germanic economic restraint has also voiced her opinion on the bishop's unsavory lifestyle.
The bishop's megalomania was in full display after lurid tidbits escaped the investigation on the 40 million dollar project. Apparently, the luxurious building does not have access for the handicapped, but it does have a 20,000 dollar bathtub.
The project of course, include the cathedral portion, which is the part that is not handicap accessible. In fact, the faithful actually footed the 13,400 dollar bill to make the instep to the cathedral wider, to ensure that less abled people are allowed into the church. Of course, the bishop had refused to do the improvement on the grounds that the improvement would have made the inflated bill worse. But it was his doing that caused the bill to be underestimated at the onset, something that is seen as a deliberate attempt at covering up the true cost, and luxury, of the project.
For now, the bishop has been 'recalled' to Rome. But if more reports surface of the 'expenditures' of the high ranking curia at the Vatican, it could nullify Pope Francis' efforts at rehabilitating the Catholic Church's image.
Partial Source: Spiegel/ 10.14.13
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