As of: March 27, 2024, 1:47 p.m
By: Peter Hanack
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Beautiful half-timbered buildings, chic chapel: the bishop's seat in Limburg.
Architecturally exciting, financially a disaster.
© michael chic photo
After the scandal surrounding the expensive bishopric, the diocese of Limburg is now handling its finances transparently.
The famous bathtub in Tebartz-van Elst's apartment is mothballed.
Limburg - Almost exactly ten years ago, on March 26, 2014, the then Limburg Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst resigned from his office, which he had held since 2007.
The Pope had accepted Tebartz's request to resign.
Under his aegis, the diocese experienced a financial scandal that continues to have repercussions today.
The Diocese of Limburg has just published its financial report for 2022.
The income and expenses are listed in detail and the costs for construction projects or other investments are mentioned.
The fact that this is now the case goes back to the crisis into which the then Bishop Tebartz-van Elst plunged the diocese.
Bishop Tebartz-van Elst: 31 million euros for official residence with chapel etc.
The bishop had an official residence built opposite Limburg Cathedral, which ultimately cost around 31 million euros.
Five million were originally budgeted for this, but numerous special requests from the bishop, such as a subsequently installed free-hanging Advent wreath in the house chapel or bulletproof windows in work rooms, caused the costs to explode.
The facts about the “proud building” only gradually became public because Tebartz decided many things on his own and employees were sworn to silence - including about the extremely luxurious private apartment, which included an expensive koi carp pond, a walk-in closet and a headline-grabbing, free-standing bathtub included.
The church's money
The 2024 budget
of the Diocese of Limburg records expenses of 343 million euros and income of 309 million.
The deficit amounts to 34 million euros and is to be offset from reserves.
Church tax
accounts for almost three quarters of revenue.
The 2022 financial report
can be found at bistumlimburg.de.
pgh
Not only was the financial damage immense, the loss of credibility also hit the diocese hard.
This was not just the episcopal see.
The authoritarian leadership style and the handling of the truth - Tebartz had long denied taking a first class flight to India - also caused many people to move away from the church and caused lasting irritation among large parts of the employees and the clergy.
Today, under Tebartz's successor Georg Bätzing, the diocese sees itself committed to “transparency and responsible use of its financial resources”.
This applies to both the regular financial reports and the communications on the new budget plans.
Fewer believers, less church tax: Falling income for the Limburg diocese
Even though the financial scandal of 2014 has largely been overcome: Falling church tax revenue due to declining membership numbers as well as rising personnel and operating costs make careful financial planning necessary in the budget that has just been approved for 2024.
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The investments in Tebartz's apartment remain largely wasted money.
Plans to accommodate refugees there were never implemented.
Bishop Bätzing lives much more modestly elsewhere.
And so the rooms are now part of the cathedral museum.
And the bathroom only serves as a storage room.
(Peter Hanack)