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| "Bishop of Bling" |
Remember when German bishop, Franz Peter Tebartz-van Elst, the "Bishop of Bling" got thrown out of his diocese by Pope Francis for his big spending ways? (
See here.) Actually, the project was begun by the previous bishop, but oh well. Many of us agree that ostentatious over-spending is inappropriate for clerics. The final price tag for the project which involved maintaining and redecorating ten buildings of a diocesan center including the bishop's house was reported at 55 million euros. (A euro is worth about $1.12 according to currency converter.) The bishop was crucified in the secular media and wasn't treated too sympathetically by the Catholic media either. Latest news on the bishop?
He's been assigned a newly-created catechetical position at the Vatican.
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| Bishop of Super Bling |
Oh...one other thing. The "Bishop of Bling" is orthodox. He suspended a priest who "married" two homosexuals and was holding the ground on controversial issues relating to marriage and sexuality which made him unpopular both in the secular world and in his own episcopate which is filled with
progressives who believe in the
evolution of dogma.
Now let's turn to another blinger of the German episcopate who's managed to avoid the negative spotlight. (
See here.) Cardinal Reinhard Marx, one of the liberal movers and shakers at the recent Extraordinary Synod on the Family, a man who implies that the German Church will move ahead on its "pastoral" plan to allow the divorced and civilly remarried to receive Communion, spent over 130 million euros on a diocesan center. Let's see, that's more than twice as much as the "bishop of bling." But there has not been one one word in the secular press about his scandalous spending and there's no evidence he is getting called on the carpet by Rome.
So what gives?
What makes one bishop a pariah and another gets a total pass? I could speculate, but I think the facts speak for themselves. You can find the answer in Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
I am glad to see that you are putting this miserable situation out there.
ReplyDeleteI believe this case is really not about money. The German Church has a lot of money. The German press hates the Church and the German public are not happy about the church tax they have to pay. Cardinal Marx is popular. Tebartz van Elst was an outsider the Limburg Diocese did not want --
Disagreements about policy and money are a part of life. However the behavior of the German press has been deceptive, petty and vicious. Not a good thing.
There have been photos posted on Twitter of the renovations in the Bishop's residence. There was no bath tub for two that had previously been reported in the mainstream media.
Before Bishop Franz Peter Tebartz van Elst had been appointed to Limburg he was highly regarded. At this point his career and his health are probably destroyed -- and so it goes --.