GERMANY
Daily Mail (UK)

Mounting fury over Catholic bishop spending £25million on new palatial home in Germany as the Pope promotes a more humble lifestyle

By AARON SHARP

A German Catholic bishop faced pressure to resign on Wednesday after it emerged that his new palatial residence would cost £25m, over six times the original estimate.

Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, bishop of Limburg, was investigated by a Vatican envoy last month after protests in his diocese against lavish spending.

His luxurious choice of home is at odds with Pope Francis’s shift of the Church’s focus towards simplicity and poverty.

The soaring cost of the stately residence next to Limburg’s hilltop cathedral was made public by the diocese on Monday and was immediately criticised by churchgoers and officials.

Local Catholic Raimund Champert said: ‘Such prestige projects simply does not fit with Catholicism
‘The Church, like the Pope, has a responsibility to…