GERMANY/VATICAN CITY
NBC News
By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News
A senior member of the Catholic Church known as the “luxury bishop” has been suspended from his diocese in Germany while the Vatican investigates a house refurbishment that reportedly ran into the millions of dollars.
Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg, who had been under pressure to resign, will leave his diocese for an unspecified period, the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday. Monsignor Wolfgang Roesch will be in charge of the diocese during the bishop’s absence, the Vatican added.
Tebartz-van Elst “cannot presently exercise his episcopal ministry,” the statement said.
The Vatican also said it would audit spending on renovations to the bishop’s residence, which Germany’s Spiegel magazine reported cost up to 31 million euros ($42.70 million).
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