Pope Francis: Merry Christmas, you power-hungry hypocrites

Just when the Curia thought it was safe...

The pope's traditional Christmas greeting to the cardinals, bishops and priests who run the Holy See was less an exchange of warm wishes than a laundry list of what the pontiff called the "ailments of the Curia" that he wants to cure.

How can you not have some amount of respect for this guy. He certainly goes where no pope has gone before. At least in the 21rst century...

The pope denounced the lust for power of ladder-climbing clerics, those who indulge in hypocritical double lives, and lamented a sense of "spiritual Alzheimer's" that leads clerics to forget the joy that is supposed to animate their lives.

He also attacked what he called "existential schizophrenia" and the "terrorism of gossip." He was especially critical of cliques that "enslave their members and become a cancer that threatens the harmony of the body," eventually leading to death by "friendly fire."

"These and other maladies and temptations," Francis said, "are a danger for every Christian and for any administrative organization, community, congregation, parish, ecclesial movement, etc., and can strike at both the individual and the corporate level."

At least on the surface, this seems to be a man who believes in putting his own house in order, before anyone elses. It will be interesting to see what comes of this, and what he will do next. If he doesn't have to resign under mysterious circumstances, that is.
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a reply to: Klassified

I agree 100% with him, and has gained my respect!!!

I'd shake his hand- which is more than I'd say for any other pope in the history of popes.

As the public figure of one of the worlds richest and most corrupt industries, he's got some balls for pointing it out. I wonder how far he'll get.

Yup, hes been kicking ass and taking names.

Something that makes me totally astonished he got the job at all!!!

Definitely a good thing so far, most go by and never say or do one thing right, this new guys hit more home runs time and time again.

The next stage would have to be dismissing people, because some of them will surely be incurable.
Perhaps we should also expect measures of de-centralisation, to remove some of the rungs of the ladder and reduce temptation.

a reply to: Biigs
I'd say he will certainly be a prominent figure in the Catholic churches history.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
The next stage would have to be dismissing people, because some of them will surely be incurable.
Perhaps we should also expect measures of de-centralisation, to remove some of the rungs of the ladder and reduce temptation.

If he does what you're suggesting. He will definitely blow some minds, worldwide.

a reply to: Klassified

A breath of fresh air , the more I see from pope Frank the more I like.

All they are are words, until they're put into action they mean nothing.

Not to take away from what he says, I agree, but I can't help but think that he's only pandering to the "humanist" movement/ideology that's becoming more prevalent in the world today. He wouldn't have been elected pope if he wasn't a puppet with his strings ready to be pulled in my opinion.

Let's put words into action, not just speak them. Until actual improvements are seen instead of spoken about, I'll stay on the fence. Love what he says, I just don't see anything significant changing from the church as a whole.

originally posted by: Klassified
]
How can you not have some amount of respect for this guy. He certainly goes where no pope has gone before. At least in the 21rst century...

At least on the surface, this seems to be a man who believes in putting his own house in order, before anyone elses. It will be interesting to see what comes of this, and what he will do next. If he doesn't have to resign under mysterious circumstances, that is.

I certainly have respect for him, and his IS putting the house in order. Other stuff he intended was to close the 'Vatican' bank. That may be on hold, since some of the bank's hierarchy were given the push on advise given by the IOR, and 1300 dubious account holders were told their accounts were being closed down. The same antics were happening at the bank as happened at HSBC and others, for instance. It would be nice if the US Federal Government got someone to administer a physic to their rogue members in the CIA money laundering game too.
Maybe that's the way it is going?

a reply to: Klassified

I aint buying into it, to me its all just words after another, lets see some real actions and real hard core truth with it and then i take another look at em. All the crap around em over few decades but really trough out the history gives much more depth reality about em than one dude giving ppl "hope" with empty words, so far.

This CEO certainly seems to have a top notch marketing team behind him that is trying desperately to change the image of his organization.

Too bad the product they sell is 2000 years old and, even with recent firmware updates, can't handle outside scrutiny.

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

Yes sir. Like any politician you don't go by what they say. But what they do.

And I think this guy is doing what he says.

Pope Francis is continuing his mission to clean up the Vatican’s finances and flush out any corruption among leadership, by hiring the accounting firm EY (formerly known as Ernst & Young) to audit a large portion of the Church’s funds overseen by the controversial “Governatorato” department. The finance and accounting company will be asked to review the financial transactions of the Vatican City State—now the third area of the Catholic Church (along with the Vatican Bank and the branch that oversees the church’s real estate holdings) to come under review of third-party auditors. The department known as the Governatorato came under scrutiny during the 2009 “Vatileaks” scandals, after letters written by the butler of Pope Benedict outlining financial corruption by Church officials were made public
Read more at www.relevantmagazine.com...

www.relevantmagazine.com...

He also attacked what he called "existential schizophrenia" and the "terrorism of gossip." He was especially critical of cliques that "enslave their members and become a cancer that threatens the harmony of the body," eventually leading to death by "friendly fire."

If the pope perceives the clerics have devolved into this form of schizophrenia and dysfunction, then he should provide these clerics with psychological assistance, because they are continuing to and, most likely, have been wallowing in this for a very long time.

This is the church in damage control re-inventing itself and trying to clean up it;s image which is long long overdue

originally posted by: douglas5
This is the church in damage control re-inventing itself and trying to clean up it;s image which is long long overdue

I'd say there's some truth to that. And there's a lot of damage to clean up.

Every time I hear about this guy he is saying something that gets a good public reaction.

I havnt seen any actions though.

Is that all it takes, a good talker, some one pouring honey in your ears, state what you want but does nothing and you follow.


This guy is like Obama, says what you want to hear and does what he wants.

I hope this one understands that knowledge is power and power should be with the people and makes the vatican archives public. But thats probably just a dream.

a reply to: borntowatch
Read the posts in the thread. He has backed up at least some of his talk with walk.

originally posted by: Klassified
a reply to: borntowatch
Read the posts in the thread. He has backed up at least some of his talk with walk.

Sorry maybe I am a bit slow in understanding but I havnt seen any changes, I dont think I have seen a single change that is relevant