Posted on 11/19/2014 5:02:53 AM PST by Gamecock
VATICAN CITY — We’ve all received gifts we can’t use or frankly just don’t like. They get stuffed away in a back closet or sold. Some are eventually re-gifted to unsuspecting relatives or friends. But if you are the pope, getting rid of unwanted gifts is not as easy as that, what with the Spartan living conditions and protocol and all. So Pope Francis has found a way to turn the generosity of others into good luck for a few.
Starting this week, the Vatican is raffling off tickets for a chance to win unwanted papal gifts that Francis doesn’t need. Raffle tickets cost €10 and can be purchased at a select few spots including the Vatican post office and at the Vatican’s tourist and pilgrimage bureau in St. Peter’s Square. The winners will be drawn on January 8, which makes the raffle tickets the perfect Christmas gift.
The prizes are impressive and give a window into just what sort of presents people give the pope. The grand prize is a pristine white Fiat Panda 4X4 – with full options. The second, third, and four prizes are bicycles—baby blue, orange and gray respectively; and the fifth prize is a tandem bicycle built for two – which begs the question of just who the giver of that gift thought the pontiff might be cycling around St. Peter’s Square with.
According to Rome’s Messaggero newspaper, which broke the story on Tuesday, the potential pontifical consolation prizes include an Illy brand capsule coffee maker, a HD digital camera, a silver picture frame, a Homero Ortega Panama hat, and a vast array of belts and comfortable shoes in the style the pope likes to wear. There are wallets, briefcases, and document holders, too. A Vatican spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the monogrammed items would not be included in the raffle at this time, though he didn’t rule out that further raffles would be held if this one proves financially lucrative. There are even electronics like iPhone and iPod docking stations and an assortment of pricey pens intended for the pontiff.
The money raised in the holy raffle will go to the Pope’s main charity for the poor. The project is being overseen by Father Corrado Krajewski, a Polish priest who has been Francis’s papal almoner since his election. Don Corrado, as he is known on the streets of Rome where he frequently distributes gifts of money, food, and clothing to the poor for Francis. Last week, Krajewski initaited a project to install showers for the homeless in the restrooms in St. Peter’s Square after meeting a man in Rome he had hoped to buy dinner for, who said he really wanted a hot shower instead. Rome charities estimate that there are around 8,000 homeless people in Rome.
Father Corrado also travels to poor areas around Rome to visit people in need to distribute money to pay utility bills, and past-due rents along with distributing rosaries and sacred pictures of saints, according to Messaggero, which says when Francis assigned him he told Krajewski.
“You will not be a desk bishop desk. You'll have to be an extension of my me to bring a caress to the dispossessed and the last of the city,” Francis reportedly told his good will angel. “I can not get out of the Vatican but you will.”
The papal raffle is expected to raise hundreds of thousands of euro and should easily clean the papal closets of hundreds of unneeded and unwanted gifts.
True; you pointed it at an obvious GROUP of them on FR.
With an individual singled out; it's easy to then point to specific posts as evidence to the charge(s) being made.
Vague references to a vast, nameless group of folks makes it much harder to see what actual crimes have been commited.
Golly!
Let me look at my data...
No WONDER my butt is so broad!!
About 7,685 a year - 21 a day
If I reply to this amount; I wonder how many more I actually READ??
If I've replied to something; I've usually read at least 90% or so of the whole thread.
Once; I had a toad tell me I was ugly.
I badly ripped my dissention once, and it had to be darned!
Good point!
I'd not go this far.
His first reply was :
Anything can become an idol, if someone mistakes it for God. IMHO, the worst (and most common) idol in XXI Century America is the Almighty Self.
And with it I agree completely.
Me, me, ME! is the generations we have now.
Now even I got a bit defensive over that; but there is more than a GRAIN of truth in it.Here’s another idol: The incessant bickering, backbiting gotcha-games that characterize the Religion Forum ...
I; personally; do NOT bicker, backbite or play gotcha games.
I (here he puffs out his chest) am merely 'contending for the faith...'
Oh, boo-hoo. If you think I’m going to look up the quote about the Vatican being burnt to the ground, you have another think coming. I am pretty sure who the poster was but since I’m not entirely sure, I will not post his name (it was a male name but could have been a woman).
I’m glad to find out that the Protestants who post on FR (on this thread, especially) are actually bona fide art lovers who can’t wait to visit the Vatican to explore all the treasures. All this time, I thought they only liked pictures of dogs playing poker.
"Go away; you bother me." said another to provoke it.
Why not?
It's not THAT hard or time consuming!
http://www.bing.com/search?q=Vatican%20being%20burnt%20to%20the%20ground%20frerepublic&qs=n&form=QBRE&pq=vatican%20being%20burnt%20to%20the%20ground%20frerepublic&sc=0-33&sp=-1&sk=&cvid=683dfb3a144b4b78ac5f5e450861e94e
Oh?
It might help US search for this 'quote'.
I'd like to see the sights there!
Well; we ARE allowed to visit your parishes on Monte Carlo nights!
I know you’re a fake Jew but don’t you know anything about synagogues and the way the Jewish religious community comes together to raise money for charitable causes? I know, I’ve been involved with some of these events on behalf of my friends. Raffles, gambling, auctions, you name it. And these people GIVE; no stingies among them. You might call that “swag” as well but I wouldn’t.
I'm a Noachide. I fail to see why that should provoke a reaction like that from you. Why are you so hostile?
but don’t you know anything about synagogues and the way the Jewish religious community comes together to raise money for charitable causes? I know, I’ve been involved with some of these events on behalf of my friends. Raffles, gambling, auctions, you name it. And these people GIVE; no stingies among them. You might call that “swag” as well but I wouldn’t.
Let me clue you in on something: my post was not meant as a serious comment to this thread. "Swag" is a common word in the brony community (one I'd never heard of before hearing it in that context). I saw the word "swag" in the title and posted a pic of the Ulitimate Swagster, Rainbow Dash, to two fellow bronies simply because I enjoy injecting ponies into as many threads as I can. The post was not aimed at you or the serious posters on this thread and was not an attack on the Vatican, the Catholic Church, or anyone else.
Some people are just programmed to look for offense everywhere. Those people are called liberals. Apparently we have a lot of liberals here on FR.
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