Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst

The Most Reverend Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst
Bishop Emeritus of Limburg
Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst in 2012
Church	Roman Catholic
See	Limburg
In office	28 November 2007 – 26 March 2014
Predecessor	Franz Kamphaus
Orders
Ordination	26 May 1985
Consecration	18 January 2004 by Reinhard Lettmann
Personal details
Born	(1959-11-20) 20 November 1959 (age 57) Twisteden, Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Previous post	Auxiliary Bishop of Münster
Coat of arms

Styles of Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst (born 20 November 1959) is a German prelate of the Catholic Church and theologian. He was a vicar and an auxiliary bishop in Münster before becoming the Bishop of Limburg in January 2008. Pope Francis removed him from the exercise of his episcopal office on 23 October 2013 and on 26 March 2014 accepted his resignation as Bishop of Limburg, following a long-standing public dispute about the costs and financing of a diocesan construction project.

Tebartz-van Elst is the second of five children born on 20 November 1959 to a farming family in Twisteden, near the Catholic pilgrimage village of Kevelaer in North Rhine-Westphalia. "Van Elst" likely indicates that one of his ancestors came from the Dutch city of Elst, Gelderland.

He studied philosophy and Catholic theology at the Wilhelms University of Münster and the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg. He completed further theological studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. From 1990 to 1996 he was vicar and chaplain at St. Paul's Cathedral in Münster, before receiving a teaching appointment at the University of Münster. His work in pastoral theology focused on the baptism and catechism for adults, and his manual for adult baptism reflects his focus on the Catholic evangelism of adults in an increasingly secular Germany.

In 2003, Pope John Paul II named him titular bishop of Girus Tarasii and auxiliary for the Diocese of Münster. On 28 November 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Limburg. In Limburg, he replaced Franz Kamphaus, whose liberal views had brought him into conflict with Pope John Paul II. In 1999, Kamphaus had refused to follow a Vatican instruction that Catholic organizations cease cooperation with medical clinics that issue referrals for abortions. He even refused when faced with a direct ultimatum from the Pope in March 2002, and the Vatican then stripped him of authority over counseling centers for pregnant women. Tebartz-van Elst, named a few years later to replace Kamphaus, who had been popular with his clergy, was seen as a representative of Roman discipline and authority.