Do shut up you old fool
The Pope, with the kind of self-awareness we’ve come to expect…
The global financial crisis is proof that the pursuit of money and success is pointless, Pope Benedict XVI has told a meeting of bishops in Rome.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church said that the disappearance of money as banks collapsed showed that wealth meant “nothing”.
The Pope said that people should instead base their lives on God’s word.
Tell you what, Benedict? You first.
underpants cost,' said Benedict.
9:1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
9:2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
9:3 And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.
Posted on October 6th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
| See also • Indulge me • You can take the boy out of the Hitler Youth, but… • Benedict XVI: better late than never |
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Isn’t the Catholic Church the richest institution in the world, making him CEO of Wealth Inc. Fine to talk. Why not give more of it away?
Colin Campbell´s latest blog post… Traffic Sign Sex
Blackfriar’s Bridge anyone?
I reckon they’ve heard this one before, y’know.
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Oh, aye. They’ve never liked it.
I wrote about something similar a while back when I saw an Easter procession in Spain for the first time. What really struck me was the tremendous amount of gold, silver and other fineries. There was a king’s ransom on display; I had been passing a lot of the beggars in Madrid that day. The bathos was, I thought, palpable.
There is an ongoing contradiction within Catholicism (and other faiths) about money. On the one hand, ‘it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God’ (Matt 19:23-24) and on the other hand ‘Render under Caesar those things which are Caesar’s and unto God those which are God’s’ (Matt 22:21). The Church seems to be rather keen on precious metals - perhaps Caesar’s - while there are mendicant orders of friars and Opus Dei has brought itself a lot of money and power.
It’s worth remembering that the Catholic church has to play to its audience. When Paul VI laid aside the Papal Tiara at the end of Vatican II, some ultratraditionalists denounced him as an antipope. Much like the USA, which protests the equality of its citizens, the Catholic Church seems to like its head to have trappings slightly greater than a primus inter pares. I suppose that in the Pope’s case, the Cardinal-Electors say that “he is one whom under God I think ought to be elected”. I don’t think quite the same claim is made in DC.
xD.