Benedict XVI criticises a world of luxury

It is mind boggling how the Pope speaks one way and lives in another way. Today he decries a world of luxury and yet he lives in the lap of luxury. He is both the Prince and the Pauper. Benedict XVI is the modern Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Benedict XVI's rule is "Do as I say, not as I do".

But Benedict XVI's actions speak louder than his Infallible words.

When did Christ ever wear red expensive shoes, don on ornate ceremonial albs, be surrounded and protected by a private army, be a political head of state, write Ph.D books no one can understand except himself and by a few men, oppress those who work with and for the poor like Jon Sobrino? If Christ were to visit Rome today, what would he say about the worse sins of pedophile priests seething beneath the Vatican archives (Crimen Sollicitationis) which are worse than the sins at the Temple of Solomon?

Would he recognize the Peter-the-Rock clones residing at the grand palace of the Vatican rivaling the palace of the Caesars of Rome? Christ would gag at his ostentatious "Vicar of Christ" when they meet for the first time, they'd be like the Prince and the Pauper, the Pope being (and dressed as) the Prince!



Pope decries world with luxury for few and poverty for many
January 7, 2008

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI today criticised a world with luxury for a few and poverty for many, and called for "sober" lifestyles to ensure fair distribution of wealth amid a scramble for natural resources.

"One cannot say that globalisation is synonymous with world order - it's the opposite," Benedict said in his homily in St Peter's Basilica to mark the Catholic feast day of the Epiphany.

"The conflicts for economic supremacy, and the scramble for energy and water resources and raw materials render difficult the work of all those who strive to construct a more just and united world," Benedict said.

"We need a greater hope, which allows us to prefer the common good of all to the luxury of few and the poverty of many," the pontiff said.

"If true hope is lacking, you search for happiness in intoxication, in the superfluous, in excess, and you ruin yourself and the world," he said.

"By now it is obvious that only by adopting a sober lifestyle, accompanied by a serious commitment to a fair distribution of wealth, will it be possible to install a just and sustainable model of development," Benedict said.

On the Epiphany, the Church marks the visit of the Three Magi, or Wise Men, to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, and Benedict praised their courage for undertaking a long journey guided only by the light of a star.

"We all need this courage, anchored to solid hope," the pope said.

Benedict's remarks reflected the 80-year-old German pontiff's worry for the environment, a developing theme of his papacy.

Vatican spokesman the Reverend Federico Lombardi elaborated on the pope's concerns in an interview with Vatican Radio.

"Until a little while ago, environmental issues seemed the concern of the rich rather than of the poor, of developed countries rather than of more backward ones for which economic development was instead the priority," Lombardi said.

"Now, frequent disasters due to environmental imbalances hit hard those who have few resources to defend themselves," the spokesman said.

"Today, humanity fears for its future ecological balance, and to this observation, the pope links a strong moral call to solidarity," Lombardi said.

Frances D'emilio |AP

Poor Jesuit Lombardi wasting his precious talents - choking under the tentacles of the Octopus Dei