Am I missing something?
So this bunch of (mainly white) old men living in the lap of obscene luxury in the Vatican are calling for a crackdown on the financial markets now that the Occupy Movement has established its global street cred and gained such enormous traction.
"Oh, hang on everyone, wait for us, we're on the side of the people, the poor downtrodden people!"
a document released by the Holy See is calling for a "world authority" to crack down on capitalism and suggests some are considering it. Written by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and released on Monday:
Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority
Read more about it here.
It is difficult to put a figure on the extent of Vatican wealth. The closest average I can come up with in dive-bombing around the web is around 50 billion US dollars. Most of it is invested in the banking, insurance and commodities stock markets. And as we all well know transparency isn't one of the Vatican's strong suits. Somehow so much poverty in the world never equates in my mind with so much wealth in the Vatican. Is this how Jesus pictured his future church? Upon this rock which shall be rolling in red velvet and yay I say unto you a listing of stocks and bonds rippling down the steps of the Sistine Chapel?
So pardon my cynical black heart here. Isn't there a self serving whine to all of this noise about looking out for the financial interests of we the people and hear ye now from henceforth only fairness in all financial dealings?
All this coming from these outrageously wealthy masters of cover-up, these irrelevant old hypocrites
Hear hear, WWW!!
ReplyDeleteThat $50 billion may not include value of all their lands in many countries, and their stash of art and artifacts.
Trust them to hop on the bandwagon - where were they when the current situation was building, when words from them in certain ears might have made some difference, however small?
Since I'm not a catholic, it's easy for me to be outraged. It seems to me that catholics around the world should be outraged. As long as they keep supporting their church, nothing will change.
ReplyDeleteyup!!
ReplyDeleteIt's all just window-dressing to impress their impoverished devotees. The Pope and his accolytes have no interest in demolishing capitalism, it's a nice little earner for them.
ReplyDeleteYes,and yes. To try to be fair, I see some good things the Catholic Church does for people locally. Now that I've said that, the thing that pisses me off the worst about the Roman Catholic Church is their stand on contraception, and the effect it has on poor people the world over. Arrrrggg!
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, the Vatican has been on the side of the angels when it comes to debt for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI'd go along with most of the other criticism though.
The irony of it boggles the mind.The other irony is the Big Unions getting involved while in bed withe the big corporations.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Jesus say something to the effect that "You won't believe the things that will be done in my name." I have the utmost contempt for the Catholic church and the hypocrites that float in the holy see. Guess I spent too many years in Catholic school.
ReplyDelete