Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Spot the 'Luxury Bishop'


In one of these buildings has been recently living a 'Luxury Bishop'. Whoever gets the answer right wins a night in a lavish hotel in Rome. I know a lot of money has been spent on the residence of a Prince of the Church. But what happened to, 'Who am I to judge?' 

Exactly how much does it cost to maintain Vatican residences? What happened to 'mercy' and 'not casting the first stone'? Why don't German Bishops 'tell tales' on their brother Bishops to the Holy Father when one of their brother Bishops is spouting heretical nonsense, fostering dissent and rebellion against Church doctrine or when they are covering up some heinous clerical crimes?

And, honestly, what's going on with the media's treatment of this Pope? This was 'big news' on Sky News when I just walked through the station. Has Sky recently been taken over by Gloria.TV or something?

Why can the Holy Father be so swift and decisive in suspending a Bishop in Germany for the sin of spending too much money on residences which he must know will house his successors after him, but a more 'politically difficult' or 'unpopular' decision is put on hold indefinitely? Is morality in 'the court' of Francis only about money and its prudent spending?

I am sad to ask the questions, but why are unpopular statements left to such as Archbishop Mueller, but popular decisions like this taken by Pope Francis to the joy of the media, so that others look nasty and mean, but the Supreme Pontiff always ends up looking great? 

It all seems very Latin American to me, but I didn't think the papacy was a political position but a spiritual one - involving spiritual fatherhood to not just the laity, but priests and even Bishops. Moreover, I always thought Jesus taught us that it was a joyful and holy thing, to be hated by the World for the sake of Jesus and His Gospel and that if the World spoke well of us, something is seriously wrong.

Holy Father? Don't you want to share in the humiliations and sufferings of those who proclaim the truth for love of Jesus?




Say a prayer for a man who just walked into Rome a Prince and walked out of Rome a leper. Oh...and while we're on the subject: Whatever did happen to that 'explosive dossier' on the 'gay lobby' in the Vatican? Has it, like Francesca Chaouqui's saucy Twitter feed, suddenly disappeared?

I always thought 'worldliness' wasn't just about the disordered quest for money and possessions, but also about the disordered quest for sex and power as well. 

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