German diocese seeks €3.9m damages from ‘Bishop of Bling’

The notion of “bishop accountability” may be being getting slightly redefined in the Vatican. Until now, it referred to the idea that bishops who failed to report sex-abuser priests in their dioceses should be canonically disciplined.

This week a new category of bishop accountability emerged when the German diocese of Limburg announced it was looking for €3.9 million in damages from its disgraced former bishop, the so-called Bishop of Bling, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst.

The bishop prompted worldwide headlines in 2013 when it emerged that he had spent €31 million, or six times the original estimate, on restoration work on the Romanesque cathedral complex in Limburg, north of Frankfurt.

A German church-commissioned report revealed that the bishop had spared no expense when it came to the restoration of Limburg’s 16th-century “Old Vicarage”. For a start, he had spent €2.9 million on a private chapel, while furnishing details for the project included items such as a €25,000 conference table, various works of art and a two-seater bathtub costing approximately €20,000.

At the time, the bishop had excused himself by saying that he was much more a theologian than an architect, adding that he had been keen to see that the restoration of the period palace be done properly. Despite that explanation, the bishop was first suspended in October 2013, and was later forced to resign from his post in March of last year.

Now it seems that the Limburg diocese not only wants its money back but it also wants to know just how much the bishop took from the so-called Bischoeflicher Stuhl (Bishop's Chair), a sort of episcopal slush fund, strictly off the books, that is available in older, usually former West German dioceses.

Since the Limburg scandal became public, it has emerged that some German dioceses control very big “Bishop’s Chair” funds. The diocese of Cologne, for example, recently reported that its Bishop’s Chair was worth €166.2 million in 2012.

Rome-based newspaper Italian Insider recently reported that the bishop is currently housed "in a sprawling penthouse apartment", complete with panoramic terrace, close to Rome's fashionable Piazza Navona. Furthermore, media reports claim that his current monthly salary is €10,300, of which €7,296 comes from a pension paid out by the Limburg diocese.

Diocesan spokesman Stephan Schelle said this week that there would be at least one further meeting this autumn between the Apostolic administrator and the Holy See to see whether payment demands (compensation) can be levelled against Bishop Tebartz-van Elst.

Signficantly, the spokesman added that “the Holy See is responsible in cases of legal action against a bishop”.