Vatican condemns itself to hell?

Mon, 03/10/2008 - 3:50pm

The Vatican has just released a new list of "social sins" that will earn you time in hell, and in a deeply, hysterically ironic move, possessing excessive wealth is one of them.

Carolyn O'Hara | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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It will be joined there

by Lure D. Lou on Mon, 03/10/2008 - 4:42pm

by the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the Republican Party and the Economist Magazine...but not, unfortunately, Donald Trump who everyone knows is generally on the verge of bankruptcy.

The list sends itself to hell

by ejival on Mon, 03/10/2008 - 6:32pm

... as these two social sins are at odds:

1. ``Bioethical' violations such as birth control
7. Creating poverty

Rampant over population of the planet in itself creates more poverty.

Well, at last you've spurred

by PEG on Tue, 03/11/2008 - 6:22am

Well, at last you've spurred me to comment.

This sort of easy, petty attacks is beneath the usually world-class quality of this blog.

The Vatican possesses excessive wealth, you say?

An interesting proposition given that it redistributes almost all of the money that flows up to it down to its many charitable endeavors (Third World churches, dispensaries, hospitals, schools, etc. etc. etc.). I know personally several Vatican officials. They usually live in small one-bedroom apartments as richly furnished as your average European public housing block, and spend most of their lives working, since they have no families. Rich by Third World standards but pretty poor for high ranking officials of any government.

Now of course the Vatican is mostly made up of lush, luxurious palaces and monuments, which are well maintained. But given that most of them are among the greatest monuments on this planet, not maintaining them seems to me to be what would be outrageous. I am not sure what would be accomplished if the Church let the Sistine Chapel go into disrepair.

I agree with PEG

by departuregate on Tue, 03/11/2008 - 11:22am

I come to Passport to get away from cheap shots like this. This is absolutely disrespectful. Should the Vatican throw away all it's relics and tear down it's churches? All their money goes back into churches, schools and charity. Their vast property wealth is because they have a lot of institutions. No one says the University of California owns 'too much land.' And the same way a college has an endowment for the future, why shouldn't the Church hold on to some cash for future endeavors?

Between this and Blake's disgusting tirade against Prince Harry, this blog is really slipping in quality.

Irrelevant

by Lukasa on Sun, 04/13/2008 - 10:25am

Regardless of people's views on the matter, the OPs point is moot. St. Thomas Aquinas very elegantly pointed out that, in fact, it is impossible for the Church to sin, given that they are the living representative of God's will on earth.

Thus, if you are religious, the Vatican is immune to its own list of sins. And if you are atheist, it's irrelevant, because the Church has no moral authority anyway.

Btw, I'm an atheist.