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!