ROME
The Independent (UK)

Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst: Germany’s ‘Bishop of Bling’ in new scandal over penthouse flat in Rome

MICHAEL DAY Author Biography ROME Sunday 13 September 2015

Germany’s “Bishop of Bling”, who was removed from his post in Limburg by Pope Francis after spending extravagant amounts of church money on home improvements, including €350,000 (£257,000) on walk-in wardrobes, is now living the high life in Rome, it is claimed.

Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst was summoned to the Vatican for a dressing down in October 2013, when it emerged he’d spent €31m on renovations.

A spokesman for the Holy See then announced that the high-spending clergyman would go on a “period of leave from the diocese”.

But earlier this year it emerged that the German Bishop had been given an impressive-sounding job in Rome as “delegate for catechesis” at the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation.

And…