After a week of waiting, Bishop Tebartz-van Elst met with Pope Francis in a 20 minute closed door meeting last Monday. No official statement was released, but German media reports that after the discussion the bishop was upbeat, calling it "an encouraging conversation."
He has not been seen in public since the meeting. The bishop continues to insist that the cost were in part because of the need for historical preservation of the 10 buildings on the property.
Bishop Tebartz-van Elst also is under investigation for false claims in the use of church money for travel to India. A prosecutor's office is deciding whether to pursue perjury charges.
The Limburg diocese has about 650,000 members. Some have taken to protest daily in front to the area's main cathedral. Last summer, before the news of the spending scandal, 4,000 people in diocese had signed an open letter to complain about the bishop's leadership.
In Germany, the family of the ostracized bishop have reportedly been intimidated, according to media outlets.
"We get daily death threats by phone or in letters," the brother of the priest, Johannes, told the Bunte newspaper. His 87-year-old mother told the same paper that family is standing behind her son despite of the criticism.
It could take up to three months to finalize the Bishop Conference report. In the meantime the Diocese will be run by a substitute vicar general. One of the most senior members of the German church had already suggested that the bishop should use this time to examine his conscience over the crisis he has caused.
"I am convinced that the bishop of Limburg... will confront this situation in a spirit of self-criticism," Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of the German bishops' conference last week.
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