First it was pedophile priests, then last week it was the Vatican secretly putting political pressure on governments not to convict said predator priests. NOW it looks like illegal money laundering and ties to the MAFIA are coming to light! What’s next? The Pope’s secret drug cartel and a ring of prostitute nuns? What’s going on here??!!
Once again I find myself in the uncomfortable position of commenting on outrageous religious goings on. I’d rather not. So why bother? Because keeping silent about news bits like this kicks up my blood pressure a couple of ticks and makes that vein in my head bulge angrily.
It wouldn’t bother me so much if the Catholic Church (not the only church plagued by scandall and corruption by any means, but it is certainly the most prominent and powerful) were not holding itself up as the spiritual and moral “Gold standard” of the planet. I would respect the church leadership soooo much more if they would just ‘fess up and admit something along these lines;
“Hey, what do you want from us flawed human beings? Sure, we do immoral and illegal things occasionally and then try to cover it up to save our own asses. Doesn’t everybody? But despite our many human failings we love Jesus (or at least what we’ve been taught about him) and we want to follow and imitate him as best we can manage.”
Needless to say, my friends, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for the Pope or any Church official with an international profile to make any such statement.
Finally, what follows is a clip of a report that appeared on Yahoo.com early today. Curiously, whereas other stories might stay on the front page for days, THIS story appeared for only a few hours before going missing. Nevertheless, you will find the link to the source article after the excerpt below.
“VATICAN CITY – This is no ordinary bank: The ATMs are in Latin. Priests use a private entrance. A life-size portrait of Pope Benedict XVI hangs on the wall.
Nevertheless, the Institute for Religious Works is a bank, and it’s under harsh new scrutiny in a case involving money-laundering allegations that led police to seize euro23 million ($30 million) in Vatican assets in September. Critics say the case shows that the “Vatican Bank” has never shed its penchant for secrecy and scandal…..”
To read the rest of this article: http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20101212/NEWS06/101212002/1002/rss
Much respect to faithful, honorable Catholics everywhere. I hope, for your sakes, that the Church succeeds in getting its act together.
