Michael Bransfield, left, with Pope Benedict in 2010, was forced to retire as Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia Osservatore Romano/ReutersA Catholic bishop spent $4.6 million of church funds on enhancing his home with features such as a bar where he drank Cointreau from a teacup and a climate-controlled wine cellar stocked with Dom Perignon champagne, a report concluded. Michael Bransfield was Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, from 2005 until allegations of sexual and financial misdeeds forced his retirement last year. He also splashed out on a dining table costing $20,000 and a further $697,000 on luxuries such as Persian rugs for a second home in which he never lived. The expenditures were detailed in a report completed in February by investigators acting for the Vatican. The Washington Post has now published them in redacted form after church officials failed to indicate whether they would…

Source: The Times December 31, 2019 00:00 UTC