History of the Popes

Anyone Catholic or otherwise interested in the history of the Church, I highly recommend reading “A History of the Popes” (originally published as “Keepers of the Keys” in 1982) by Sir Nicolas Cheetham, an English classics scholar and diplomat, educated at Christ Church – Oxford.

Sir Cheetham (1910-2002) had a successful career as a British diplomat - first to NATO, then as British Ambassador to Hungary (1961-1963) and Mexico (1968-1972). He was the grandson of a British Parliament Member (House of Commons), and the son of a British diplomat and ambassador's daughter (Russian Empire's last ambassador to Italy). He is also the author of a number of books about history (Mexico, New Spain, Greece).

Sir Cheetham’s “History of the Popes” is a slow read as straight history, but an excellent resource book to learn the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

New Catholic Leader: Pope Francis

The new pope, calling himself Pope Francis, is the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina where he was born and became a Jesuit priest.  Promoted by two very conservative popes, it is no surprise that this pope is also very conservative.  Described as living humbly unlike most cardinals, he is known for cooperating with previous military juntas and dictators, but then clashing with President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner - Argentina's first freely-elected female leader. 

Taking the name ‘Francis’ does not necessarily mean anything. This pope may have chosen the name after another Italian - Francis of Assisi, a non-ordained friar, or maybe after a Frenchman - Francis Xavier, founder of his order, the Society of Jesus, aka Jesuits.  Both men, one from early 1200's and the other from the 1500's, had shunned family wealth to “walk the talk” - becoming missionaries for Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church. 

The current crop of cardinals might see in Pope Francis a financial savior with the missionary zeal to convert billions of Asians, perhaps thinking where the money is going to come from in the future.  After all is said and done, the Church as an institution requires a lot of money to survive and all things lead to Rome.

Catholic Birth Control Ban - Do the Math

There are financial reasons why the Roman Catholic Church has continued its stance on birth control (BC) - just do the math to understand.  Is the Vatican's position rational?  I'll let you figure that out.

In 2 generations, Catholic families went from an average of 8 kids who had an average of 5 kids, to my generation with an average of 2 kids. The average total adults in a Catholic family donating to the church dropped from 50 [2+8+(8*5)] to 17 [2+5+(5*2)] after the pill arrived in 1964.  The impact of family members who have left the church because of BC ban magnifies the results.  

My parents had 6 kids & 16 grandkids, but only 4 out of the total of 22 are practicing Catholics.  Using $100 as today's average monthly donation of Catholic adults, the lost revenue annually from just one family is $21,600 (18 x $1200) or $216,000 in a decade if nothing changes. 

The Church's financial experts would look at this impact in the USA of:
1 million families   = $216,000,000,000 = $216 Billion
10 million families = $2,160,000,000,000 = $2.16 Trillion

$2.16 TRILLION is a heckuva lot of money!!

Unfortunately, at the same time families were having fewer kids & therefore higher disposable income, which could have translated into increased donations, the Vatican then doubled down on the BC ban causing those fewer kids to turn away from the church as adults.

Add financial settlements from decades of child sex abuse, which are the tip of this iceberg, and you begin to understand why the Roman Catholic Church faces grave financial troubles today.  To "bring Catholics back to the Church" would require the Pope, the Curia in the Vatican and all the Cardinals, as well as bishops and priests, to completely lift the ban on birth control... and increase the number of available parish priests by taking back those who left to marry.

Religious Poppycock

I keep thinking... maybe the earth slipped on its axis from all the hot air being broadcast 24/7. So many people, so little time to brainwash them into believing black is the new white and the wee little folks are 10 feet tall. Charles Dickens and C. S. Lewis would be having a field day about now what with dour pots calling kettles black and rich rotund Men in Black crying out about being victims. Don Marquis would have Archy telling Mehitabel, "Your kittens are YOUR problem... we cockroaches don't have too many little roaches." And, yes Alice, there really are talking rabbits who wear clothes & check time with a pocket watch.

Dickens, Lewis & Marquis would quickly realize Catholic bishops' crying "foul" over insuring birth control at affiliated universities and hospitals is a Giant Red Herring. Catholic cardinals as well as bishops are using "religious liberty" to drive a mack truck through so they won't have to report child sex abuse to secular authority... nor pay over $700 million in judgments that are on appeal. Don't take my word for it, take Cardinal Egan's word for his belief now, retracting his apology 10 years ago, that the Church has no obligation to report abuse cases.

The bishops are reasserting that Canon Law rules, not governments, to get Congress to overturn the Supreme Court's unanimous decision in United States vs. Lee, 455 U.S. 252 (1982).

Justice Burger, writing for a unimous Supreme Court: "Congress and the courts have been sensitive to the needs flowing from the Free Exercise Clause, but every person cannot be shielded from all the burdens incident to exercising every aspect of the right to practice religious beliefs. When followers of a particular sect enter into commercial activity as a matter of choice, the limits they accept on their own conduct as a matter of conscience and faith are not to be superimposed on the statutory schemes which are binding on others in that activity. Granting an exemption from social security taxes to an employer operates to impose the employer's religious faith on the employees."

This isn't new stuff - these folks mean business!  A year ago in March, the "Rights of Conscience Act" Bills were filed in the House & Senate (H.R.1179 and S.1467) and referred to Subcommittees on Health.  The Catholic bishops are now spending $50 million on public relations using code words like "freedom of religion" and "religious liberty" ... with help from their long-time frienemies.

I figure taking the Catholic Bishops' argument to its ultimate conclusion means spending $2 billion/year to Catholic affiliated universities and hospitals could be viewed as a violation of the Establishment Clause.  Then Bishops can tell their Catholic faithful to pay those costs out of their own pockets so they needn't worry about abiding by federal law.  Hummm... pitting Catholics against Catholics??