Limburg events illustrate need for transparency, says Cardinal Marx

The resignation of the Bishop of Limburg following the release of a report on financial mismanagement and impropriety in his diocese has highlighted the need for transparency in all the dioceses, according to the head of the German bishops’ conference, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

“The conference feels very strongly that there is an urgent need for the decision-­making bodies and structures in the Church to be explained more clearly and made more easily understandable,” Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich told the press in Berlin on 28 March. He was speaking shortly after the Vatican had announced that Bishop Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg had stepped down. Cardinal Marx explained what lesson the German bishops had learned from the Limburg saga. “We see it as a mandate to set the platform for more transparency and it is our aim to improve the transparency of church financing and of the controls that exist,” Cardinal Marx said.

Bishop Tebartz-van Elst first rejected the financial report when it was published on 26 March and put the blame for what ­happened – he was accused of excessive ­spending on refurbishments to his residence – on his then vicar general, Mgr Franz Josef Kaspar. After his brief audience with the Pope two days later, however, the bishop apologised. “I realise that I made mistakes. Even if they were not made deliberately, they have destroyed trust. I would ask everyone who has suffered or is suffering on account of my failings for forgiveness,” his statement said.

Asked to comment on the Limburg events  on 28 March, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Vienna archbishop, said he had studied the Limburg report online. “It is a clear-cut case of misconduct. Full stop. The supervisory authorities failed or were out-manoeuvred,” he said. On his last visit to Rome, he had asked Pope Francis why he had appointed him (Schönborn) to the executive board of the Vatican Bank (IOR). “I’m hardly famous for my banking expertise, I pointed out, but Pope Francis replied very simply by saying ‘honesty is all that matters’,” Cardinal Schönborn said.

* Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta this week apologised for building a US$2.2 million (£1,321,000) mansion as his residence. He bowed to criticism from parishioners and said he would consider selling the new home in Atlanta’s upmarket district of Buckhead.