德国教堂

　　Bishop of bling

　　奢华的主教

　　Episcopal extravagance fuels criticism of state-financed churches

　　主教的土豪作风激发了对国家资助教堂的批评

　　THE faithful of Limburg, a diocese in Hesse, have been protesting in front of their Romanesque cathedral, a few even affixing “95 theses” to its door to make their views of their bishop unmistakable. But the prelate, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, had already gone to Rome, where he awaits a meeting with Pope Francis that will determine his future. The extent of his excesses is such that it is hard to say which detail most rankles Germans, and not only Catholic ones.

　　来自海塞一个主教教区林堡的信徒们在他们罗马式的大教堂前举行抗议，一些人甚至在教堂门口贴上“95个议题”的标语来证明其关于主教观点的正确性。但是这位主教弗兰兹彼得已经去了罗马，正等待觐见将决定其命运的教皇弗朗西斯。他行为过激的程度可以参考于：很难说是哪个细节激怒了德国人，但这个原因不只是来自天主教方面。

　　For some it is the petty lying. Last year the bishop flew first class to India to look at some do-goody projects. But when Der Spiegel, a news magazine, confronted him, he insisted that he had flown business class, even signing affidavits. On October 10th prosecutors in Hamburg indicted him for perjury.

　　对一些人来说，这个原因是主教撒的一个小谎。去年，主教搭乘头等舱去印度视察一些不切实际的慈善项目。但是当新闻杂志社明镜询问他时，他坚决地说自己搭的是商业舱，甚至签订了宣誓书。在10月10号，汉堡的检察官起诉他做伪证。

　　For others it is the pomp and luxury. In 2010, two years after he became Germany's youngest bishop at the age of 48, Bishop Franz-Peter began building a new residence next to the cathedral. The cost was estimated at 5.5m (7.43m). Then his requests piled up. His bathtub cost 15,000. Instead of resting an advent wreath on an iron frame in his chapel, he wanted it suspended from the ceiling, requiring the roof to be cut open, at a cost of 100,000 instead of 10,000. In total, the cost estimates now run to 31m.

　　对另外一些人来说，这个原因是主教的奢华作风。在2010年，也就是在他以48岁成为德国最年轻主教的两年后，主教弗兰兹彼得开始着手在教堂旁边修建一座全新住宅。这个花销大约是550万欧元（743万美元）。接下来，他的欲望开始膨胀。他的浴缸花了1.5万欧元。不同于将圣诞节花圈放在小礼拜堂铁架上的是，主教想要将花圈从屋顶上悬挂下来，这需要打开屋顶，所需开销不是之前的1万欧元而是10万欧元。加起来，主教花费的所有开销现在达到3100万欧元。

　　Germans usually expect to read about such clerical ostentation in history books about the Reformation. Pope Francis, who has chosen simplicity and modesty as his message, makes the incongruity even starker. In an increasingly secular Germany this latest scandal is disastrous for the churches.

　　德国人通常喜欢从有关宗教改革的历史书上阅读到此类关于牧师虚伪的故事。选择简单和谦虚作为自己行事方式的教皇弗朗西斯让这种矛盾凸显的更加厉害，以致达到了天壤之别的效果。在信教人数越来越少的德国，这种丑闻对教会来说真是灾难性的打击。

　　Germany separates church and state much less clearly than does America but more explicitly than Anglican Britain or Orthodox Greece. Its post-war constitution, in a clause carried over verbatim from the Weimar constitution of 1919, favours no particular faith but lets all churches levy taxes on their members through the income-tax system (8% or 9% of a taxpayer's bill, depending on the state). The state also finances churches directly. It still compensates them for expropriations dating back to 1803, when Napoleon demanded war reparations from German princes.

　　德国的政教分明没有美国明显，但是分的比英国圣公会和正统的希腊人要清晰。从1919年魏玛宪法中逐字逐句搬过来的条例说到，战后宪法不特别支持哪一种宗教，但是会通过所得税系统（纳税人纳税单的8%或9%，具体由不同国家决定）对所有教堂成员进行征税。国家也会直接资助教堂。国家还针对征用问题对教堂进行了补偿，这要追溯到1803年，拿破仑向德国王子要求战争赔偿。

　　With this money the churches take on more tasks than in many other countries. One hospital in three, for example, is run by a church, as are many crèches and schools. The churches are Germany's second-largest employers (after the government). This has drawbacks, says Eva Müller, author of a book critical of the system. A Catholic-run crèche, say, can fire a teacher who divorces and remarries, even though no secular German institution may do so. In one egregious case last December, a woman who had been raped was refused treatment by two Catholic hospitals because abortion was one option.

　　有了这些钱，相比于其他国家的教堂，德国教堂可以承担更多的任务。例如，三分之一的医院是教堂经营的，许多托儿所和学校也是这样。教堂是德国的第二大雇主（仅次于政府）。反对该系统的作者梅薏华说，这样的系统有许多缺陷。任何一家天主教医院可以解雇离婚或再婚的老师，而所谓“世俗”的德国机构都不能这样随心所欲。去年12月份，有一件惊人的案子，一位被强奸的妇女被两家天主教医院拒绝而得不到治疗，因为天主教反对堕胎。

　　Aside from public funds, many churches also have half-hidden pots of money to play with. Bishop Franz-Peter, for example, built his compound with money from an endowment set up by a duke of Nassau two centuries ago. Hardly anybody knows what assets are in it. The churches urgently need to make such things transparent, argues Thomas von Mitschke-Collande, a former consultant at McKinsey who has written another critique of Germany's Catholic church.

　　除了这些公共基金，许多教堂还有很多不透明的钱来花销。例如，主教弗兰兹彼得用养老金来建成自己的,这些养老金是由一位拿索公爵在两世纪前募集来的。人们很难知道这些钱来自哪些资产。麦肯锡公司的前顾问汤姆斯说，教堂应当立即把这些资产透明化。汤姆斯还写过另外几篇关于批评德国天主教堂的文章。

　　In the meantime ever more Germans respond by severing their affiliation with institutionalised religion. Church attendance, weddings and baptisms are all declining. The exodus would be faster still but for the many Germans who remain church members for pragmatic reasons, such as sending children to a church school. Even so, more than 100,000 Germans leave the Catholic and Protestant church every year. In Limburg exits usually run at one or two a day, but have now jumped to about a dozen.

　　与此同时，更多的德国人通过切断自己和这片制度化区域的友好联系来表示抗议。教堂出席、婚礼和洗礼数量都在下降。人们的离去会越来越快，但还是有许多德国人为了一些比如送小孩去教堂学习等现实原因留在了教堂。尽管如此，每年还是有超过10万德国人离开天主教和新教教堂。在林堡，通常一天就有一两个人离开，但是现在已经上升到十几个了。

　　1.meet with 会见

　　例句:We meet with an incredible occurrence.

　　我们碰到一件不可思议的事。

　　2.require to 要求

　　例句:Architecting and deploying scalable applications in-house require you to handle a lot of complexity.

　　内部构建和部署可伸缩的应用程序需要处理许多复杂的情况。

　　3.date back 回溯至

　　例句:This method, a “dance” of healing diseases, can date back to ancient times in china.

　　此法源远流长，最早可追溯到我国远古时代起利导作用的舞。

　　4.even though 即使

　　例句:Steve lets his daughter go on a school trip even though he won't let her spend a night away with a friend on the principle that there's safety in numbers.

　　即使史蒂夫原则上不让其女儿与朋友在外过夜，但他还是让她参加学校组织的旅行，他认为参加集体活动比个人活动安全。