A Bishop's Spending

READING COMPREHENSION 1º B.I.
Teacher: Jesús Ledo
October 12, 2013
BERLIN — Since being elected in March, Pope Francis has quickly made a mark with his
displays of modesty, eschewing lavish papal apartments for a spartan guesthouse in Vatican City,
wearing simple vestments, carrying his own bag and preaching against a Roman Catholic Church
hierarchy that he said was overly insular and too often led by “narcissists.”
Apparently, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, 53, the bishop of Limburg, Germany, for almost six
years, is not on the same page as his new boss.
Roman Catholic bishops rarely serve as Page 1 tabloid fodder or top the national television
ratings. But the prelate of Limburg earned this dubious distinction in 24 hours last week as
outrage swelled after the news media reported the cost of the renovation of his residence, about
$42 million, and a state prosecutor in Hamburg charged him with lying in a legal case.
The bishop ordered up a palatial living room, and his apartment alone cost $3.9 million,
according to Jochen Riebel, the spokesman for the body administering church property in
Limburg. Mr. Riebel said the bishop lied last summer when confronted over the cost, estimating the renovation at just
$13.5 million.
Citing Mr. Riebel, the German news agency DPA itemized the work: $474,000 for carpentry and cupboards, $610,000 for
art, $135,000 for windows for a private chapel, $34,000 for a conference table, $20,000 for a bathtub.
“For heaven’s sake!” the headline atop the nation’s largest-selling tabloid, Bild, screamed on Friday. Over a graphic that
showed the bishop’s living quarters and offices, it asked, “Why does the bishop need a €783,000 garden?”
By Friday, calls for the resignation of Bishop Tebartz-van Elst were multiplying.
The church exists to serve the weak, the sick and the poor, said Stefan Vesper, the leader of the country’s biggest
organization of Catholics and among those calling for resignation. The bishop’s behavior “is not the Catholic Church,” he
said.
In September, as thousands of Catholics signed petitions for and against him, the bishop, whose diocese of 682,000
believers includes rural Rhineland but also Frankfurt, the banking metropolis, begged forgiveness from all whom he
might have “hurt and disappointed.”
After a visit from a Vatican envoy, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, who was sent to investigate the growing furor, the bishop
agreed to have the German church investigate his spending, which he has insisted incorporated 10 separate building
projects and was mandated by preservation laws.
On Friday, the bishop scrapped a planned trip to Israel with a church choir, but remained silent, behind the walls of the
controversial residence.
“He will have to step down; there is no alternative,” said Joachim Heidersdorf, chief reporter for Nassauische Neue
Presse, a newspaper in Limburg, a picturesque small town whose cathedral dates from more than 800 years ago.
In a telephone interview, Mr. Heidersdorf marveled that the bishop, who he said communicates with just handpicked
reporters, had chosen now to talk only with the influential Bild, which published his spirited defense on Thursday but
went on the attack with Friday’s front page. Television reports about the Limburg case attracted top ratings Thursday
night.
For many commentators, the case in Hamburg hurt even more than the ballooning bills for the residence. A senior state
prosecutor, Nana Frombach, formally charged on Thursday that the bishop made false statements twice under oath during
his legal action against the weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel, which in 2012 reported that he flew first class on a visit to
the poor in India.
If found guilty, the prelate could face a fine. Much worse than his spending, in the eyes of Claudia Keller, writing on
Friday for the daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, is the formal charge that he lied and that “till today, he is sticking hard
by that lie.”
“That is not just embarrassing and a violation of the Eighth Commandment,” she wrote. “It is the complete opposite of the
life that Pope Francis imagines for his bishops.”
VOCABULARY
a) Find in the text the words for these definitions:
1. profound indignation, anger, or hurt, caused by a cruel act.
2. to grow or cause to grow in size, amount, intensity, or degree.
3. prolific, abundant, or profuse; generous; extravagant.
4. a newspaper with pages about 30 cm by 40 cm, usually characterized by an emphasis on photographs
and a concise and often sensational style
5. food for arm animals.
6. to put on a list or make a list of.
7. to discard as useless.
8. to resign or abdicate (from a position).
9. growing bigger and bigger.
10. a solemn pronouncement to affirm the truth of a statement, often involving a sacred being or object as
witness.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a “narcissist”?
2. How did the bishop lie, according to Jochen Riebel?
3. What is Bild? Why is it mentioned?
4. What do these figures refer to:
• 53
• $20,000
• 682,000
• $13.5 million
• €783,000
WRITING (200 words)
What is your opinion about this case? What should the bishop do, in your opinion? Have you heard of other
similar cases? What should be done to prevent situations like these?

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READING COMPREHENSION 1º B.I.

Teacher: Jesús Ledo

October 12, 2013

WRITING (200 words)

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