At least 69 priests from Ruteng Diocese submitted letters of resignation this week and demanded that Bishop Hubertus Leteng heed their calls for a complete overhaul of how the diocese is run.

According to reports, the priests say the bishop borrowed over $94,000 from the Indonesian Bishop's Conference and an additional $30,000 from his own diocese.

He did not provide a report for these sums, and it remains unclear how the money was spent.

Priests accuse him of giving the money to a woman with whom they allege he was having an affair.

Leteng, has dismissed the allegations, calling them "slanderous."

He says the money was given to a young man to attend flight school so he could become a commercial pilot. He added that the details were none of the priest's business.

Last year 112 of 167 diocesan priests signed a letter of no confidence in the bishop, according to the priest who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An appeal has been made to the the Vatican to intervene and resolve the dispute.

Representatives of the priests, accompanied by a bishops' conference official, met Archbishop Antonio Filipazzi, the outgoing apostolic nuncio in Indonesia June 16.

Father Alfonsius Segar, one of the priests who met with the nuncio, told ucanews.com that Archbishop Filipazzi has promised to help resolve the dispute.

"He will immediately take this issue up with the Vatican," Father Segar said.

Source

• ucannews.com
• catholic.org
• catholicherald.co.uk
• Image: directory.ucannews.com

Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano, 69, resigned as the ordinary of Ciudad del Este diocese last September, but the Holy See never specified why.

The resignation came after an apostolic visitation of the diocese arranged by Rome a few months earlier.

There had been controversies over financial and spending decisions as well as the bishop's appointment of a vicar-general who had been accused of molesting seminarians elsewhere.

The priest in question denied the allegations and the case was eventually settled.

After Bishop Livieres Plano resigned, US$1million in debt came to light.

Bishop Livieres Plano, a member of Opus Dei, asserted he had been "persecuted" for his orthodoxy by liberal parishioners and fellow bishops.

Asuncion Archbishop Edmundo Valenzuela told The Associated Press a group of Paraguayan clergy recently visited Bishop Livieres Plano in Buenos Aires.

"Happily we were able to say goodbye to our brother Rogelio" before he died, said Archbishop Valenzuela.

Meanwhile, a German newspaper has reported that Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst won't have to pay any compensation to his former Limburg diocese.

Bishop Tebartz-van Elst, who became known as the "Bishop of Bling" because of reports that he had authorised more than US$34 million in spending on his residence and other diocesan building projects, resigned in 2014.

In July, the Limburg diocese disclosed that it was seeking more than US$4 million in compensation from him for aspects of the spending.

However, a news report in Bild stated that Pope Francis has decided that the German bishop will not be required to repay expenses over the diocesan budget.

Bishop Tebartz-van Elst is now living in Rome, working on catechetical affairs for the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation.

Sources

• Associated Press
• Catholic World News
• Image: Tekton Ministries

Limburg diocese wants its former bishop, Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, held responsible for the losses incurred during a luxury makeover of his residence and office.

The makeover cost $NZ52 million. An uproar ensued in 2013 when the details were made public.

This saw the Vatican demand that Bishop Tebartz-van Elst stand down.

He later resigned and, some time later, took up a role in the Roman Curia in the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation.

A Limburg diocesan investigation into the construction saga found the overall bill included $NZ6.5million of outright losses that had to be written off.

Bishop Tebartz-van Elst ran up the bill by demanding late and costly changes, requiring earlier work to be scrapped, and ordering design studies that were not used.

The bishop had paid out millions of euros towards the project from an off-the-books fund only he controlled.

Most German dioceses hold such reserves, known as the Bischoeflicher Stuhl ("bishop's chair").

These are diocesan nest eggs that are neither taxed nor mentioned in the annual financial reports where dioceses list how much they receive in revenues, donations and the special German church tax on parishioners.

Limburg diocese is in discussions with the Vatican to see if and how it can make its former bishop pay back the losses.

"In principle, the Holy See is responsible in cases of legal action against a bishop," a diocesan spokesperson said.

The diocese has not brought canon law charges against Bishop Tebartz-van Elst in a Vatican court.

It was also still trying to establish the full extent of the losses written off.

The diocese is also reviewing the pension it pays its former bishop.

Media reports have stated that Bishop Tebartz-van Elst is receiving NZ$11,700 a month from Limburg in addition to his monthly Vatican salary of about NZ$5000.

Sources

• Religion News Service
• Image: ABC News

The resignation of Archbishop Antonio Carlos Altieri, 63, of Passo Fundo, Brazil, came after a Vatican-ordered apostolic visitation of his archdiocese.

The investigation was conducted by Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes.

According to a Brazilian media report, local clergy complained to the apostolic nuncio following a US$600,000 renovation of the episcopal residence as well as renovations to a seminary, chancery, and a retreat house.

Priests also opposed the imposition of a 10 per cent diocesan assessment on parish income.

Archbishop Altieri's alleged "rubricism" and "ritualism" in the liturgy also drew complaints.

And his willingness to accept seminarians who had left other dioceses and religious orders was also questioned, according to the report.

In a letter announcing his resignation, the archbishop apologised to anyone he may have offended.

In March, 2014, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, who was dubbed "the Bishop of Bling" after revelations that the price tag on renovations to his home and diocesan offices had skyrocketed to some US$40 million.

Another episcopal resignation was noted by a Vatican bulletin on June 25.

It announced the resignation of Bishop Gonzalo Galvan Castillo, 64, of the Autlan diocese in Mexico.

Mexican media noted that the bishop had been under fire for years for refusing to report to police or remove from ministry a priest, Fr Horacio Lopez, suspected of abuse.

In 2009, a 24-year-old man identified only as Eric reported to Bishop Galvan that Fr Lopez had sexually molested him when Eric was 11.

Eric's parents also demanded that Bishop Galvan take action to prevent the priest from harming other children, but the bishop reportedly transferred Fr Lopez to another parish.

The priest's current whereabouts are not known.

Sources

• Religion News Service
• Catholic World News
• Image: Pinterest