GERMANY
GlobalPost
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
PARIS (Reuters) – A German Catholic bishop accused by critics of being an autocrat and lavish spender has agreed to let an outside commission audit his finances after a rare week-long visit by a Vatican monitor.
Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, whose costly new residence is out of step with Pope Francis’s stress on simplicity and poverty, also pledged to work more closely with his diocesan advisors.
Tebartz-van Elst and Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, a Vatican diplomat examining the diocese that includes Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt, celebrated Mass together on Sunday before the Italian prelate was to return to Rome and report to the pope.
“The final report of the commission, which will examine and include all costs, finances and procedures involved, will be disclosed publicly,” Tebartz-van Elst pledged in a joint statement with his cathedral chapter of close advisors.
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