The Church of Rome: Of Saints and Sinners
Read Time:3 Minute, 11 Second
Throughout history the Vatican has tried many tricks to convince, impress, and make money from the faithful. They’ve employed the world’s best architects, artists and composers to create the impression of the church’s grandeur with overpowering edifices, music that can move one to tears, and stupendous sculptures and beautiful paintings.
These things may be magnificent, and the world would be a poorer place without them, yet they add nothing to the veracity of the bible, or to validate God’s existence. Some of the world’s most fraudulent fiends own palaces and awesome art collections.
Ever since the Middle Ages, the Vatican’s worldwide properties and other investments have surpassed the scale of nearly every other business in the world. Its finances are very complex and not transparent, because the Vatican bank isn’t required to pay tax or fill out a tax return.
The money comes in from the world’s share markets, businesses, government taxes, thousands of dioceses, religious foundations, and fiduciaries linked to the papal state. Some commentators estimate the liquid assets to be worth over 50 billion US dollars, and that’s very likely a conservative figure.
There are also probably hundreds of billions of dollars hoarded away in real estate and works of art. That, in my opinion, is not excusable from an organization preaching charity and humility.
It’s a remarkable fact that much of the enormous wealth the Vatican owns today was originally obtained from taxpaying Italian and German citizens in the 1930’s and 40’s. People in those days often listened to priests, and were told how to vote.
The Vatican got into bed with Mussolini and Hitler in deals that swapped cash for endorsement. This is one of the reasons the Vatican was loath to criticize Hitler. It’s been argued the Second World War may never have happened without the Vatican’s support for these fascist regimes.
After the war the Vatican helped hundreds of key Nazis escape Germany in return for large cash payments and ever since the 1950’s, right up to present times, the Vatican bank has had to fight off accusations of money laundering and deals with shady characters such as men from the Mafia.
Today’s Catholics should be aware of one scam that has put much money in the Vatican’s coffers: canonizing saints. Throughout history the grounds for beatification have been theatrical. Kings, queens, the nobility, warlords and soldiers were sanctified as saints whenever it suited the Vatican. Ignacio de Loloya with his army of Jesuits, Dimingo de Guzman and his Dominican friars, and Jose M Escriva, who founded Opus Dei, each started societies that helped fill Catholic coffers, and have been beatified for their efforts, as if a hypothetical god could care less about a corporation’s annual profit!
The late Pope John Paul II was history’s greatest saint-maker; 484 new saints appeared during his papacy. All other popes in the twentieth century canonized a total of only ninety-eight. New saints keep the cash registers sizzling hot. Canonizations mean television rights, free advertising, visits to shrines, book sales, memento sales etc. People like saints, even if they don’t like their priests, bishops, or their pope, and are gullible enough to subsidize the Vatican for creating them.
In centuries past, the Vatican made a fortune trafficking indulgences; today they’re doing the same selling saints. John Paul moved a step closer to becoming a saint himself in 2011 when his successor attributed a miracle to him and announced that he’ll be beatified.
The true size of the Vatican’s gravy train will one day be made public, Catholics will be shocked, and the greedy men at the center of one of the world’s longest-running scams will have nowhere to hide.
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Mark, I am sorry but you have the whole thing wrong. Had Constantine not accepted Christianity as the official state religion back in 3 A.D. thereby spreading it all over the globe we would not be in the mess we are in today. Yeah, we might be struggling with the Druids or the Wiccans but nothing so organized and the Christians. The Romans were the most organized society on earth and controlled most of the earth’s populated surface. As soon as they excepted Christianity it spread like wild fire out of control. Then The Roman Catholic Church began to send priests to all corners of the unknown world and bribed to natives with food in return for worshiping their God. The Church became so strong that they managed to get their own seat at the United Nations which make them their own sovereign state. So, while they pretend to dictate religious doctrine they are actually able to dictate policies for other countries. You are behind the times my friend.
The catholics have long insulted the human race by their corruption, arrogance and greed. They’ve too much power for their reign of corruption to end anytime soon. Very good article.
Good point Peter. A “reign of corruption.” Well said.
Not all Catholic clerics take vows of poverty – typically only cloistered orders do: monks and nuns, but the regular parish priests do not. There was a priest in my family (paternal uncle) whose residence and most living expenses (food, utilities, etc.) were paid for by whatever parish at which he was assigned. Nearly all of his salary was disposable income. He bought a new car every year, took lavish annual vacations, many of them overseas. When he got together to play poker with his fellow priests, money on the table was in the hundreds. These are the ranks from which most bishops and cardinals like those in the picture above are selected. Jesuits (of which the current pope is one) are one order subject to vows of poverty.
I’ve long wondered why more isn’t said about this? People just seem to accept it as it is. A world full of poor and sick people with the #1 church having enough wealth to make everyone well. I don’t understand.
Catholics who object to this corruption eventually leave the church, because the laity doesn’t have the power to challenge the hierarchy. Those who remain are either ignorant of, indifferent to, or participating in the corruption.
Well said Mike and very, very true.
“Catholics will be shocked.”
Wanna bet? People will remain gullible because they would far rather believe a comforting lie, no matter how transparent, than any truth that requires disillusionment and actual thinking.
You may be right…
but consider Ireland.
It used to be one of the mose catholic countries in the world, and now the church is dying there. People have woken up.