Church and money: according to cardinal Pell, minister for economic and administrative affaires of the Holy See, the Pope\u2019s interventions for the \u201csubstantial progresses\u201d in the reforms in the Vatican finances<\/p>\n
Rimini, 22nd August 2015 \u2013 \u201cJesus understood the devastating power of money and for this reason he used to admonish how one cannot be servant of two masters. But in his parables he praised the treacherous administrator who used to earn friends with his deceitful riches and mistreated the servant that didn\u2019t invest the talent his master had given him\u201d. Cardinal George Pell, minister for economic and administrative affaires of the Holy See, confronted one of the most delicate themes this afternoon \u2013 which puts constantly the Holy Seat under the attention of the public opinion \u2013 such as the connection between Church and money. So much an important question that it has brought him to prefigure that \u201cthe next wave of attacks against the Church could be provoked by monetary irregularities\u201d. Roberto Fontolan, director of the international center of Communion and Liberation, has presented the cardinal by reminding how money is maybe the most deceptive of all illusions, a shortcut to which men\u2019s lacking hearts often surrenders.
\nThe cardinal, recalling Jesus\u2019 teaching, has clarified at once that Christianity \u201cis not Manichaeism, because the flesh has its value\u201d and that, if it is true that money can make men greedy and bring to perdition, they can also help men and their mission. \u201cMoney doesn\u2019t ease conversion \u2013 just remember the Rich Young Ruler and the eye of the needle\u201d explained Pell, \u201cbut, as Margareth Thatcher used to say, the Good Samaritan couldn\u2019t have helped the poor man beaten up by the bandits if he hadn\u2019t the money to pay his injuries and the lodging in the hotel\u201d. Then, the Gospel condemns the rich man making fun of Lazarus, but not the Good Samaritan who makes a good employment of his money.
\nSpeaking then of the story of the first twelve centuries of Christianity, Pell has recalled the birth of the modern concept of interest, justified by the growing complexity of commercial trades and by the extension of their ray. Moreover, he observed how the clergy \u2013 the ruling class of those ages \u2013 has supported and accepted the birth of the lending institutions, once called \u201cmons pietatis\u201d, in which the application of an interest between the 4-12% could be considered necessary to sponsor the new-born banking system. For historical reasons too, then, there is no condemnation of money in itself according to the cardinal.
\nOur means can\u2019t deprive us of our poverty of spirit nor replace the spiritual richness of simplicity. \u201cPope Francis adhesion to a simple life\u201d Pell said \u201cis one of the causes of his popularity\u201d. Money must be well managed and spent for charity and solidarity endeavors, \u201cby keeping in mind, however\u201d scolded the cardinal \u201cthat charity is not philanthropy\u201d: Jesus says that \u201cthe first commandment is to love God and from this it comes love for one\u2019s neighbor. Justice and work, for Christianity, are Christ-centric\u201d.
\nBy examining the current situation, Pell affirmed that today\u2019s men of Church \u201cgo perilously wrong when they don\u2019t care of the economic aspects and don\u2019t judge \u2013 enlightened by the faith \u2013 about the useof money by saying they\u2019re not competent in such matters, for there are many others \u2013 spiteful ones \u2013 ready to engage themselves in them\u201d. Clerical authorities \u201chave the moral obligations of control so that others can\u2019t take advantage from Church\u2019s patrimony\u201d. The cardinal took as an example those real estates rent at very low pricesb to some friends and the 200 million euros that didn\u2019t appear in the Vatican\u2019s official balance.
\n\u201cWe have to organize our economic activities\u201d proceeded the lecturer \u201cand take everything into account in transparency. We also have to make a better use of money: by starting with the conclave the cardinals have insisted that order is vital\u201d. \u201cFor this reason\u201d continued the cardinal, \u201cwe have established a council for economy with high-level nonreligious people and cardinals, together with a nonreligious general auditor who can enter all our systems and verify the propriety of the accounts; we created an institution against money laundering, we made a balance sheet of all Church\u2019s properties\u201d.
\nPell also reminded that an old aristocratic lady once described to him the Church as a decadent noblewoman \u2013 at the mercy of scoundrels and profiteers. \u201cAlong with Francis\u201d he affirmed, \u201cwe are working so that this conception changes and, thanks to him, we are going on. Without his support, a real reform would not be possible\u201d. In closing, the minister for Vatican\u2019s finances has showed not to have forgotten his origins as a pastor which comes first than the economist one: \u201cRemember, however\u201d he concluded \u201cthat it is simpler to manage the Vatican\u2019s finances than to provoke a conversion\u201d.<\/p>\n
(D.B., Ant.C.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Church and money: according to cardinal Pell, minister for economic and administrative affaires of the Holy See, the Pope\u2019s interventions for the \u201csubstantial progresses\u201d in the reforms in the Vatican finances<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"mec_label":[9694],"class_list":["post-144609","comunicati-stampa","type-comunicati-stampa","status-publish","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n