Vatican and Pope As Cash Cow in the Name of Jesus

We Charge For These Pictures?  Oh MY!

Watching CNN's unnecessary wall to wall coverage of "Pope Francis" visit to America, I was struck by something that brought the truth of the Catholic Church home...despite all of it's wonderful words strung together in a way to bring people into the church, a simple fact rings loud and clear...it is all about the money.   What we hear is pretty simple really...love, cherish, and help all of those who are less fortunate than ourselves, repent for our sins and say 4000 Holy Mary's and get will go to heaven. This message is driven home with occasional "Kodak Moments" where we see Pope Francis meeting with "Illegal Aliens" and their children, washing the feet of less fortunate,  all while chiding us to be better, more accepting children of the light...sounds good doesn't it?  Yet, consider this...

You have your moment in the sun with the Pope!  You, your child, your family are fortunate enough to be one of the chosen who will actually get a face to face meeting with him, maybe an unexpected touch or handshake as he drives down the street in yet another parade, or in a more organized moment when he is visiting a school catering to the needs of  illegal immigrants anchor babies. There in the background is the ever present "official Vatican photographer" capturing these "Kodak Moments" of that once in a life time event.

You and your rag muffins all aglow head home and want pictures of this "MAGIC MOMENT"...of course you do.   Have no fear!  You can have copies of those wonderful pictures taken by the "official Vatican photographer" FOR A PRICE.   

You would think the  Pope would, out of kindness and love, make sure that the photographer or another member of his staff would get the names/addresses of these people, write down the photograph numbers that correlate to their time with his Holiness, and at some later date and time "as a gift from the church" send them some nice 8x10's suitable for framing...but no, they put these pictures on a website where you can go and order them for a price.   Have to keep the cash registers at the Vatican ringing up those dollars!

Separation of Church and State....Why Are Tax Dollars Being Spent On Pope

Let Catholics Pay For His Visit!

The pope seems like a nice enough fellow, and I get why Catholics are all wet in the panties over his visit to America.   I understand that about 20 percent of our population claims some allegiance to the Catholic Church, even if only attending church on Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve.   What I object to is the other 80 percent of us being extremely inconvenienced and having our tax dollars spent because he decides to pop in for a visit.

Let's be clear here, we are not talking CHUMP CHANGE...the city of New York has spent over 16 Million dollars just renting bike racks to be used in crowd control. Police officers, sniper teams, equipment deployment, and every Secret Service member available for duty from here to Nebraska has been pulled in for this religious extravaganza!  Six days, three cities, and probably a total price tag of over $50 MILLION DOLLARS!  Shouldn't the Catholics be paying for this?

Furthermore, isn't the whole thing more than a bit hypocritical?   The "People's Pope" who is all about helping the poor and oppressed...how many poor people could be given a helping hand with $50 MILLION DOLLARS spread around?   The homeless, food pantries, health clinics...a lot of these places could receive some much needed assistance if our tax dollars were going to them instead of protecting the Catholic Pope for a few days.   Really Pope Francis...get a clue...the hypocrisy of you having us waste over $50 million dollars so you can waive at your congregation and deliver a few speeches is astounding. 

There are about 69 million Catholics here in America...how about all of you sending the United States Treasury a buck instead of expecting the rest of us heathens to pick up your tab!  Furthermore, if this man sees himself as the "Peoples Pope" he should not be inconveniencing millions of commuters who need to earn our daily bread...do you know what traffic is going to be like because he wants to come to New York?   Stay home Pope Francis, we do not need the headache.   Does this supposed man of God know how much money he is going to cost many of the common people who will lose work time because of his visit?