The auditing commission appointed by the president of the German
bishops' conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, to clarify the
decisions and processes behind the renovation of the bishop's palace
complex at Limburg, has begun work.
The palace is at the centre of a scandal surrounding the lifestyle of
the Limburg bishop, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, who reportedly spent
€31 million (£26m) renovating it.
The Pope has given the bishop
permission to be absent from the diocese.
Archbishop Zollitsch has chosen Bishop Manfred Grothe, 74, an auxiliary in Paderborn, to head the board of examiners.
The board includes the director of finances in the Archdiocese of
Freiburg and the head of the ecclesiastical court in the Archdiocese of
Munich.
On taking up work in Limburg, Bishop Grothe said the auditing
commission's task was "anything but easy".
It was not only concerned
with the cost dimension but would have to trace the decision-making
processes and responsibilities.
Meanwhile, the new vicar general, Wolfgang Rösch, has taken over as
diocesan administrator in Limburg.
"The bishop's time out is also a time
out for the diocese. It will be my job to see to it that the
administration goes on functioning," he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung.
He was under obligation to the Congregation for Bishops and to
the Holy See but not to the Bishop of Limburg.