Pope Francis fires all but one Cardinal Running Vatican Bank

[RandySF]

ROME — Pope Francis on Wednesday (Jan. 15) took his biggest step yet at cleaning house at the scandal-ridden Vatican Bank, replacing most of the institution’s advisers with fresh faces.

Among the new appointees: Vatican Secretary of State and Cardinal-designate Pietro Parolin; Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn from Vienna; Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto; and veteran diplomat Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, a close friend of the pontiff’s.

French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran is the lone cardinal adviser who was retained.

Francis’ move essentially undid a decree issued last year by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who confirmed the Vatican Bank’s supervisory body for another five years, just days before announcing his retirement. The most high-profile figure sacked on Wednesday was Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict’s secretary of state and the face of administrative woes of Benedict’s papacy.

Officially known as the Institute for Religious Works, the Vatican Bank plays an essential role in helping facilitate the Vatican’s role in confronting poverty worldwide. But it has also been connected with widespread corruption and money laundering.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/pope-francis-shakes-up-vatican-bank-sets-financial-cap-for-sainthood/2014/01/15/2ecf5d20-7e21-11e3-97d3-b9925ce2c57b_story.html

[Fridays Child]

1. This Francis guy is shaping up to be a pretty good shepherd.

I like him.

[libdem4life]

2. Amazing. He walks his talk. This has been going on for centuries, some say. It's a bad week

for corruption. Who or what is next?

[RandySF]

5. And he's going to make enemies.

[libdem4life]

6. Has already made a bunch of them...Cardinals and officials at that level have been there for life

and exercise great power. From there, they have no where to go, and there will be a trail down to the lesser officials, as well. He is amazing.

Reminder of the scene in the Bible where Jesus goes into the Temple and overturns the money tables and throws out the money changers. This Pope gets more and more Christ like with each talk and event. God bless and protect him, and I'm not a Catholic.

[freshwest]

14. +1

[BarackTheVote]

18. I pray God's watching over him--

He's so good, has done so much to wrangle the Church back from the Right Wing and put it back on the path Jesus taught of standing up for the poor. He's much more than this world deserves.

God's strength to pilot him,
God's might to uphold him,
God's wisdom to guide him,
God's eye to look before him,
God's ear to hear him,
God's word to speak for him,
God's hand to guard him,
God's shield to protect him,
God's host to save him
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish him ill,
afar and near.

[libdem4life]

31. He's what God's Grace provides ... and what the world needs. The Protestants need to take heed.

Beautiful prose.

[Cleita]

3. Anybody taking bets on how long it will be before he meets with

an unfortunate accident?

[iemitsu]

7. This Pope has to out live the last one.

The church can't replace Francis while Benedict is still alive. If such a thing were to happen, it would appear to many that there had been Divine intervention and a clear indication of God's will.

[Cleita]

8. That makes me even more skeptical about his survival considering they still have

Benny to fall back on.

[iemitsu]

12. Perhaps, but I think that Benedict had to go.

He evidently has some connection to a church scandal, or scandals, that could only be kept quiet by his removal.
One of the theories has to do with the bank.

[mfcorey1]

10. That is the theory of the pope who had a short term before. He looked into the dealings

of the VaTican Bank. The book is, IN GOD'S NAME, by David Yallop. A good read into the alleged murder of Albioni Luciani (Pope John Paul I).


http://www.puritans.net/bookreviewingodsname.htm


I highly recommend it. Written by a Roman Catholic on the murder of Albioni Luciani (Pope John Paul I). Yallop received scores of "leaks" from within the Vatican, from people who were themselves shocked with the whole affair. His research is impeccable and exhaustive.

Interesting facts from that book...Luciani was murdered for, among other things, his resolve to excommunicate 100 top-ranking Vatican officials who were Freemasons. At the time, Church canon law still forbade membership in the Freemasons (even though the Nazi Pope, Pius XII was himself a Freemason). Also, of course, several of these Freemasons were co-conspirators in the Vatican Bank scandal, in which 2.4 billion US dollars were embezzled from the bank, having been funneled into "dummy" Panamanian accounts. The masterminds of this scam were members of "P2", an Italian branch of the Illuminati.

Pictures speak a thousand words. One enlightening picture is that of Luciani jovially speaking with a Cardinal, only three hours before his death--quite obviously in the pink of health. Upon his death, he was pronounced dead of a "possible myocardial infarction." "Possible?" Since when would anywhere outside the Vatican anything short of an autopsy be permitted? But an autopsy of Luciani was forbidden. (I suspect he was poisoned.)

Subsequent to Luciani's murder, the following things happened:

1) Karol Wojtlya, the CIA's candidate, a Marxist, but anti-Russian, was elected.

2) Wojtlya "sat" on the banking scandal, until several European nations threatened to sue the Vatican bank for default on their money.

3) Ronald Reagan then bailed out the Vatican Bank with $300 million of "discretionary CIA funds." (Either our tax money or illicit CIA drug money.) He also then signed a Concordat with the Vatican in 1983. His reward? The "Reagan Democrat" (i e, "Roman Catholic&quot vote. The Vatican secured the 1984 election for Reagan.

4) Church canon law was reversed in 1982 so that membership in the Freemasons was no longer grounds for excommunication from the Church of Rome.

[Matariki]

23. Lost me at "Illuminati"

[Cleita]

25. He's whom I had in mind and thanks for the history. n/t

[hughee99]

21. Less than a year.

I said when he started saying things that, traditionally, popes haven't said before that he'll be fine as long as he doesn't fuck with the money. My guess would be some sort of "heart attack" or "stroke".

[Tx4obama]

4. WOW! n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. He should have called himself Pope Billy Jack. n/t

[DisgustipatedinCA]

11. Ok that was pretty good.

How about Buford T Pope?

[mackerel]

13. wow! he had the balls to do it!

my auntie kept saying that he was going to be the one who would do it after Benedict got caught.

[woo me with science]

15. K&R

[Ohio Joe]

16. So when will he start handing over pedophile priests instead of protecting them?

LGBT community will have to wait I guess?

Women as well?

Well... Taking care of the church money does have to be a first priority, everything else is secondary because it takes decades to change

[mackerel]

20. If you sort out the money part and all those in control

of the bank I believe we'll start to see change in that area too. (Fingers crossed and holding out hope.)

[sabrina 1]

27. As I a woman, I am thrilled with a pope who recognizes one of the most important issues

women face in the world today, poverty. His admonitions to the Reich Wing of his church and who have hi jacked this country to end their hypocrisy and obsessions with other people's behavior and to start acting like the Christians they claim to be has already helped Catholics who were bullied into either silence or complicity against Gays to have the courage to vote for Gay Marriage. See here:

Pope Francis Cited In Illinois Gay Marriage Passage By Catholic Speaker Of The House Michael Madigan

Illinois lawmakers voted to approve a same-sex marriage bill on Tuesday in a historic vote that concludes over a year of intense lobbying from both sides, reports the Chicago Tribune.

The Tribune identified two key events this year that may have contributed to the affirmative vote -- first, the Supreme Court decision that ruled the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional, and second, the tolerant remarks of Pope Francis about homosexuality, namely his statement "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"

The Pope's remarks have definitely made an impact, as some Catholic lawmakers who were initially undecided about the bill specifically cited his example when discussing their decision to support it. Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Ill.) commented, "As a Catholic follower of Jesus and the pope, Pope Francis, I am clear that our Catholic religious doctrine has at its core love, compassion and justice for all people."

The most notable statement came from Catholic Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, who echoed the Pope's words when explaining his support for the bill, stating, "For those that just happen to be gay — living in a very harmonious, productive relationship but illegal — who am I to judge that they should be illegal?"

And he's only been pope for such a short time. The Righties have lost their leverage in the use of women and gays, thanks to this pope.

Btw, is the Pope a law enforcement officer? Does he have some law enforcement powers we are unaware of? Your comment seems to suggest that which is news to me.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. Fuck the mysoginistic, homophonic pope. nt

[cali]

24. so lame. beyond short sighted.

I have a simple measurement for people on the public stage: Are they doing more good than not? He definitely falls in the more good than ill category.

[Bluenorthwest]

26. What good is he doing? Chattering and attempting to run his financial empire with

less scandal is not 'doing good'. Certainly not enough to mitigate his anti woman and anti gay right wing policies, most of what he says could be said by Rick Santorum. He slanders and libels my loved ones. I object to that. Sorry if that bugs you, seeing equal people speaking their minds about raging bigotry and sexism. Learn to live with it. Not everyone shares your dogmatic atavism. I am pro choice, pro equality. Those who are not can kiss my ass twice and call it communion.

[Cleita]

29. Pro-equality? For everyone?

Your anti-Catholic rants seem to prove the opposite.

[Douglas Carpenter]

19. knr

[hrmjustin]

22. Cardinal Bertone is a walking scandal.

[librechik]

28. OK, NOW I'm beginning to fear for the Pope's life.

Bless his heart, and Lord Protect him!

[hunter]

30. Like HSBC they were heavily into money laundering.

The price support division of right wing law enforcement is probably having a little sad about this and some members of the U.S. Supreme Court are hitting the Preparation H hard, bad butt-hurt days.

I'd like to believe Francis is a good man, however limited he is by my own Church's glacial traditions.

But from here in my fortress, behind my thick cynical scarred skin and flamesuit, I can't rightly say.