German Bishop Redecorates

[Lucky]

A German bishop is in hot water for spending 42 million dollars (!) to renovate his home. This is the same guy who flew first class to meet with the poor in India. And, oh, he's being criminally charged for lying in a state case.

Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, appointed by the German Pope Benedict, apparently didn't know of Benedict's plans to resign. And now he's being asked to resign, and flew to Rome yesterday to meet with the Argentinian Pope. He expects to be housed at the Four Seasons or the Roman equivalent there of, no doubt.

Get to know the Bishop while he is still a bishop: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/world/europe/german-outrage-swells-over-a-bishops-spending.html?src=me

I hope he doesn't wear his fancy outfit!

[MsGuy]

Well, the previous bishop had moved into rooms at a nearby seminary and allowed the official residence to be used to house refugees. No doubt the nasty buggers were responsible for that humongous repair bill.

So who's really to blame?

[AdamSmith]

lying in a state case.

[Lucky]

It's been so long since Sister Mary Brutality taught me English grammar. If she only knew that Google would come along, she might not have been as harsh.

Word and Usage FAQs > Lie / Lay / Lying / Laying

Lie is an intransitive verb (one that does not take an object), meaning "to recline." Its principal parts are lie (base form), lay (past tense), lain (past participal), and lying (present participle).

[Lie meaning "to tell an untruth" uses lied for both the past tense and past participle, with lying as the present participle.]

Lay is a transitive verb (one that takes an object), meaning "to put" or "to place." Its principal parts are lay (base form), laid (past tense), laid (past participle), and laying (present participle).

The two words have different meanings and are not interchangeable. Although lay also serves as the past tense of lie (to recline) – as in, "He lay down for a nap an hour ago" – lay (or laying) may not otherwise be used to denote reclining. It is not correct to say or write, "I will lay down for nap" or "He is laying down for a nap." The misuse of lay or laying in the sense of "to recline" (which requires lie or lying) is the most common error involving the confusion of these two words.

> Once you lay (put or place) a book on the desk, it is lying (reclining, resting) there, not laying there.

> When you go to Bermuda for your vacation, you spend your time lying (not laying) on the beach (unless, of course, you are engaged in sexual activity and are, in the vernacular, laying someone on the beach).

> You lie down on the sofa to watch TV and spend the entire evening lying there; you do not lay down on the sofa to watch TV and spend the entire evening laying there.

> If you see something lying on the ground, it is just resting there; if you see something laying on the ground, it must be doing something else, such as laying eggs

[Ojibear]

This bishop likes the best of everything. No doubt he has hottest altar boys he can lay his hands on. Ahem.

[AdamSmith]

Pope "suspends" him, one step short of removal:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/23/pope-suspends-german-luxury-bishop