Most of Romes wealth has been acquired through the sale of salvation. Untold billions of dollars have been paid to her by those who thought they were purchasing heaven on the installation plan for themselves or loved ones. The practice continues to this day--blatantly where Catholicism is in control, less obviously here in the United States. No greater deception or abomination could be perpetrated. When Cardinal Cajetan, sixteenth-century Dominican scholar, complained about the sale of dispensations and indulgences, the Church hierarchy was indignant and accused him of wanting to turn Rome into an uninhabited desert, to reduce the Papacy to impotence, to deprive the pope...of the pecuniary resources indispensable for the discharge of his office (J.H. Ignaz von Dollinger, The Pope and the Council, London, 1869, pp. 307-08). In addition to such perversions of the gospel which have led hundreds of millions astray, there are the further abominations of corrupt banking practices, laundering of drug money, trading in counterfeit securities, and dealings with the Mafia (fully documented in police and court records), which the Vatican and her representatives around the world have long employed. Nino Lo Bello, former Business Week correspondent in Rome and Rome bureau chief for New York Journal of Commerce, writes that the Vatican is so closely allied with the Mafia in Italy that many people...believe that Sicily...is nothing more than a Vatican building (Nino Lo Bello, The Vatican Empire, Trident Press, 1968, p. 167; see also David A. Yallop, In Gods Name, Bantam Books, 1984; Richard Hammers, The Vatican Connection, Penguin Books, 1983). The Roman Catholic Church is by far the wealthiest institution on earth. Yes, one hears from Rome periodic pleas for money--persuasive appeals claiming that the Vatican cannot maintain itself on its limited budget and needs monetary assistance. Such pleas are unconscionable ploys. The value of innumerable sculptures by such masters as Michelangelo, paintings by the worlds greatest artists, and countless other art treasures and ancient documents which Rome possesses (not only at the Vatican but in cathedrals around the world) is beyond calculation. At the World Synod of Bishops in Rome, Englands Cardinal Heenan proposed that the Church sell some of these superfluous treasures and give the proceeds to the poor. His suggestion was not well-received. Christ and His disciples lived in poverty. He told His followers not to lay up treasure on this earth but in heaven. The Roman Catholic Church has disobeyed that command and has accumulated a plethora of riches without equal, of which the Roman Pontiff is the supreme administrator and steward. ... (James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, Donald E. Heintschel, eds., The Code of Canon Law, Paulist Press, 1985, Canon 1273). There is no church, no city which is a spiritual entity, no religious institution past or present which even comes close to possessing the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church. A recent newspaper article described only a fraction of that treasure at one location: The fabulous treasure of Lourdes [France], whose existence was kept secret by the Catholic Church for 120 years, has been unveiled. ...Rumors have been circulating for decades about a priceless collection of gold chalices, diamond-studded crucifixes [a far cry from the bloodstained cross on which Christ died], silver and precious stones donated by grateful pilgrims. After an indiscreet remark by their press spokesman this week, church authorities agreed to reveal part of the collection...[some] floor-to- ceiling cases were open to reveal 59 solid gold brooches, many encrusted with precious stones.---Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast..
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 01:22:48 +0000