The number of Germans leaving the Roman Catholic Church increased sharply last year, the German Bishops’ Conference said on Friday. After an uproar over a bishop’s lavish new $42 million residence, more than 178,000 Germans left the church in 2013, the conference said. Slightly more than 118,000 people decided to leave the church in 2012. Pope Francis removed Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst as the bishop of Limburg last year after an outcry over the cost of his new residence. There were 24.2 million members of the German Catholic Church last year.