[Catholic Caucus] The Corruption of the Vatican

Unheard ^ | August 3, 2021 | Damian Thompson

[ebb tide]

[Catholic Caucus] The Corruption of the Vatican

The most corrupt nation state in Western Europe occupies only 120 acres of land and has fewer than 1,000 residents. But its capacity for initiating criminal behaviour, and the global consequences of the financial and sexual scandals in which it’s entangled, are hugely out of proportion to its size.

That’s because, around the world, roughly a billion people traditionally regard the state’s geriatric absolute monarch as God’s representative on earth. They may have been aware that, for centuries, a few bad apples in the administration have betrayed the monarch’s trust by embezzling money. But the notion that the whole state was slowly turning into a criminal enterprise would have struck them as ridiculous, even sacrilegious.

Until now

We’re talking about Vatican City, of course. Visitors to Rome are often sceptical of the notion that this walled enclave behind St Peter’s, less than half the size of Hyde Park, is really an independent country.

They shouldn’t be. If you’ve ever stayed there, as I have done, you’re left in no doubt that when the Swiss Guards wave you through, you’re stepping beyond the reach of the Italian republic. It’s especially true at night, when your footsteps echo in the desolate courtyards.

The Vatican has its own legal system, criminal investigators, gendarmerie and jail cells. And it doesn’t hesitate to use them. When Pope Benedict XVI’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, was sentenced to jail for aggravated theft in 2012, he served his time in a cell in the Vatican police barracks.

[ebb tide]

Ping

[livius]

I have always thought that the Church should get rid of the Vatican city-state, last of the Papal states. The latter, btw, were so corrupt that they were actually partially responsible for the rise of the various revolutionary movements in Italy.

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome. The Seat of the Church can remain where it is, at St. Peter’s Basilica, with the whole territory simply being part of the city of Rome, like any other church.

[Leaning Right]

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
John Acton (1887)

[MurphsLaw]

Reply to Deleted comment #4.

Can you name another entity or organization, that has fed more people, educated more people, clothed more people and healed more sick people in the history of the World then the "so-called Church" you are saddened by?

I can't think of anything else that even comes close...