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?