What is the catholic church doing with your money?

[D1B]

Well for starters, they're squandering and mismanaging it:

The Vatican's new internal financial oversight procedures recognize that human beings can make mistakes, but that the Catholic church as a whole has an obligation to handle the money it receives with honesty and great care, said the head of the Vatican budget office.

Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, head of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, told reporters Thursday that the new regulations for his office and its oversight of the budgets of all Vatican offices were designed to ensure "the correct and transparent use of the temporal goods of the church."

"It's not that we don't trust people," he said, "but because as Catholics we recognize the existence of original sin," so structures must be in place to correct errors "with charity in truth."

The prefecture, established by Pope Paul VI in 1967, functioned mainly as the Vatican's central accounting office, consolidating the budget forecasts and the year-end budget reports of Vatican offices.

The new rules give it broader responsibilities for guiding the budgeting process, planning and coordinating the economic activities of Vatican offices and entities, as well as studying the budgets and accounting procedures of different offices and monitoring situations in which an office goes significantly over budget.

At the news conference, Versaldi was asked about remarks he made to the Synod of Bishops in October saying that cases of suspected financial mismanagement within the church should be investigated internally, giving the person responsible an opportunity to make amends without publicizing the case, which could lead to scandal. Typical fucking catholic church

"There is not an opposition, but a difference between internal and external transparency," he said at the news conference Thursday. He said what he objects to is "an automatic and uncritical reporting of what happens in the church" without a thorough investigation being conducted and without giving a person the opportunity to make amends. *typical mealy-mouthed catholic talking bullshit, blaming others, never taking responsibility and flat out lying.

The cardinal said the new rules were not a direct response to requests made by "Moneyval" -- the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism -- though its recommendations regarding Vatican financial practices "are an occasion to move forward."...

Msgr. Lucio Vallejo Balda, secretary of the prefecture, said it will change its budget reports to give the public a more accurate picture of what the Vatican spends its money on. Since 1982, the Vatican has released two sets of figures: one for the Holy See, including Vatican congregations and communications media like Vatican Radio; and one for Vatican City State, which includes the Vatican Museums and post office.

National Catholic Reporter

And, they're setting the stage to pay their pedophiles:

Judge: Diocese can pay pensions of abuser priests
By Associated Press 12/20/2012
A federal judge has ruled that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington can make pension or charitable payments to priests who've committed sexual abuse.

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[psychoCAT]

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Your Christmas present is in transit.

[Cap'n Cat]

You Average Joseph or Mary Catholic is a good person, probably a wonderful person. Growing up Catholic, I knew no assholes in our little world. No doubts, either, that our CS board Catholics are good people - Hen, Joe and company. But, like Conservatives/Republicans in present-day America, their leadership is/has been phenomenally terrible, and for centuries.

[89Hen]

You Average Joseph or Mary Catholic is a good person, probably a wonderful person. Growing up Catholic, I knew no assholes in our little world. No doubts, either, that our CS board Catholics are good people - Hen, Joe and company. But, like Conservatives/Republicans in present-day America, their leadership is/has been phenomenally terrible, and for centuries.

Make a nice comment and then ruin it with partisan bullshit. Yeah, Dems have been really thrifty and wise.

[89Hen]

Well for starters, they're squandering and mismanaging it:

Then stop giving.

[Cap'n Cat]

You Average Joseph or Mary Catholic is a good person, probably a wonderful person. Growing up Catholic, I knew no assholes in our little world. No doubts, either, that our CS board Catholics are good people - Hen, Joe and company. But, like Conservatives/Republicans in present-day America, their leadership is/has been phenomenally terrible, and for centuries.

Make a nice comment and then ruin it with partisan bullshit. Yeah, Dems have been really thrifty and wise.

As if that practice is the sole province of Cap'n Cat here...............

Hey, take the nice comment and embrace it.

[GannonFan]

You Average Joseph or Mary Catholic is a good person, probably a wonderful person. Growing up Catholic, I knew no assholes in our little world. No doubts, either, that our CS board Catholics are good people - Hen, Joe and company. But, like Conservatives/Republicans in present-day America, their leadership is/has been phenomenally terrible, and for centuries.

But that's the thing - religion-wise, 99.9% of what a person lives and breathes and thinks about everyday is the local aspect of their faith. For most Catholics, their church is really not much bigger than the parish they live in. Sure, there's a hierarchy that stretches to Rome, and sure most Catholics nominally defer to Rome, but for most purposes, the Vatican and what happens there has little to do with their faith. Or their dollars.

[D1B]

You Average Joseph or Mary Catholic is a good person, probably a wonderful person. Growing up Catholic, I knew no assholes in our little world. No doubts, either, that our CS board Catholics are good people - Hen, Joe and company. But, like Conservatives/Republicans in present-day America, their leadership is/has been phenomenally terrible, and for centuries.

But that's the thing - religion-wise, 99.9% of what a person lives and breathes and thinks about everyday is the local aspect of their faith. For most Catholics, their church is really not much bigger than the parish they live in. Sure, there's a hierarchy that stretches to Rome, and sure most Catholics nominally defer to Rome, but for most purposes, the Vatican and what happens there has little to do with their faith. Or their dollars.

You're the honest ma and pa pizza joint ultimately controlled by Vinnie "The Kneebraker" Denunzio.

Good point and agree. Catholics for the most part are wonderful people.

[GannonFan]

But that's the thing - religion-wise, 99.9% of what a person lives and breathes and thinks about everyday is the local aspect of their faith. For most Catholics, their church is really not much bigger than the parish they live in. Sure, there's a hierarchy that stretches to Rome, and sure most Catholics nominally defer to Rome, but for most purposes, the Vatican and what happens there has little to do with their faith. Or their dollars.

You're the honest ma and pa pizza joint ultimately controlled by Vinnie "The Kneebraker" Denunzio.

Good point and agree. Catholics for the most part are wonderful people.

To a point, but largely Vinnie Denunzio doesn't control the day to day operation of the church and what people go there for. The Pope doesn't really impact people getting together on a Sunday and sharing in the fellowship of the Mass. He just doesn't. When a kid plays CYO basketball, no one is contemplating how the Vatican feels about a zone versus a man defense. When parents welcome a baby in baptism they aren't affected by what happens at St. Peters. And the money for the church that people put into it largely and mostly stays there - the parish church today isn't funding a lavish lifestyle in Italy.

Like I said, for most Catholics, the religion and how they practice it and live it is mostly local. Rome is a sideshow that most people see from a distance or on a trip to Italy. Some certainly revere it, but even then the Church as they know it is made up of the people around them, not a heirarchy they never are involved with.

[D1B]

You're the honest ma and pa pizza joint ultimately controlled by Vinnie "The Kneebraker" Denunzio.

Good point and agree. Catholics for the most part are wonderful people.

To a point, but largely Vinnie Denunzio doesn't control the day to day operation of the church and what people go there for. The Pope doesn't really impact people getting together on a Sunday and sharing in the fellowship of the Mass. He just doesn't. When a kid plays CYO basketball, no one is contemplating how the Vatican feels about a zone versus a man defense. When parents welcome a baby in baptism they aren't affected by what happens at St. Peters. And the money for the church that people put into it largely and mostly stays there - the parish church today isn't funding a lavish lifestyle in Italy.

Like I said, for most Catholics, the religion and how they practice it and live it is mostly local. Rome is a sideshow that most people see from a distance or on a trip to Italy. Some certainly revere it, but even then the Church as they know it is made up of the people around them, not a heirarchy they never are involved with.

Good post.

[Cap'n Cat]

GannonFan is a good egg, but, fuvk the Blue Hens.......

[JoltinJoe]

You Average Joseph or Mary Catholic is a good person, probably a wonderful person. Growing up Catholic, I knew no assholes in our little world. No doubts, either, that our CS board Catholics are good people - Hen, Joe and company. But, like Conservatives/Republicans in present-day America, their leadership is/has been phenomenally terrible, and for centuries.

For well over a century now, the Papacy has been an institution under siege.

Moreover, the last two popes grew up in a society in which the Church itself was under siege. John Paul II experienced Nazism in his native Poland, which closed churches and seminaries and sent priests and seminarians to concentration camp (indeed, every seminarian studying with John Paul II was captured sent to a concentration camp, but remarkably he hid the basement and was not discovered). Then he lived under communism which sought to close churches and limit their influence.

Benedict XVI grew up in Nazi Germany, which resticted the practice of Catholicism.

For these reasons, while I admire both the last two popes, they have tended to have a "circle the wagon" mentality when they perceive the Church was under siege. The result was the perception of a rigid and defensive papacy, acting as if every issue raised was an attack at its legitimacy.

Perhaps the next pope will have a different life experience, and he may bring more openness and willingness to compromise. It may well be the next pope will be more like Kung than Ratzinger, and that would be a good thing. Change is good.