OCCUPY THE VATICAN

In what must be a preemptive gesture, the current pope has endorsed the "Occupy X" movement. No doubt Jesus would have approved of such a non-violent protest against greed: "Give up all you have," he said, "and follow me."

But the Vatican is the richest corporation in the world. And for the Roman Catholic pope to endorse the "Occupy X" protests is an act of supreme hypocrisy. The Catholic Church is rich enough that it could buy the bankrupt United States of America.

The pope's gesture is pure hypocrisy. Maybe he wants to forestall an "Occupy the Vatican" protest in St. Peter's Square by pretending to support redistribution of wealth.

For all the other sins that Jesus mentions in the Christian gospels, he condemns hypocrisy a dozen times over. And his church--his Catholic church, with all its cathedrals and artworks and gold stuff and fancy vestments and real estate holdings and bank accounts and the banks it owns--is in its pretend Christianity the worst hypocrisy in the world.

Occupy the Vatican!

St. Benedict--this pope has chosen his name--is famous in history for the inauguration of the idea that though individual priests and monks should take vows of poverty as well as vows of chastity and obedience, the church itself could have as much wealth as it could collect. That clever discrimination is part of the "Benedictan Rule." Never mind Jesus and his teachings.

Occupy the Vatican.

Occupy the Vatican.

Bert Hornback