VATICAN CITY
TIME
Sam Frizell @Sam_Frizell
An inquiry into Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst’s $43 million residence has ended with the Vatican demanding his resignation
Pope Francis has replaced a German bishop whose $43 million new residence complex sparked outrage among Catholics.
The so-called ‘Bishop of Bling,’ Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst from Limburg was temporarily expelled during a church inquiry in October, the Associated Press reports. Tebartz-van Elst spent lavishly renovating his residence, including a reported $20,000 on a bathtub and $620,000 on artwork.
That inquiry has now found him incapable of holding his diocese and demanded his resignation, the Vatican said Wednesday.
Tebartz-van Elst will be replaced by Monsignor Manfred Grothe. Tebartz-van Elst will get a new job, said the Vatican, adding that the pope hoped that residents of Limburg would accept the decision with “docility and willingness to rediscover a climate of charity and reconciliation.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.