Greed in the Catholic Church?

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Holly3278

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Hi everyone. I am chatting with someone who claims that the Catholic Church can’t be true because the “Pope sits on a throne of gold while people starve.” What can I say to answer this accusation? :confused:
 
Really?
Why does that mean that The Church is not true?
The Pope is not God. Just His Vicar! Not concerned with the social status of the person, but the welfare and equality of every human soul. Even so, there are more Catholic organisations throughout the globe aiding the poor and needy than even the Red Cross or any other Christian organisation! We are just not interested in making TV programmes or documentaries about it, because we aren’t interested in being famous or well known! Our brief is to do as Our Lord commanded. Period.

As the Vicar of Christ, we expect the Pope to be “housed” in things consisting of the purest metals and of the ‘nearest’ to Godliness as we are capable of. But if we couldn’t, the Pope can quite easily live as Peter when he was Pope; or Clement, or Linus et al. In squalor and in caves if necessary!

What does your conversant follow? What are their leaders doing? If Christian, do they ‘fleece their flock’ so the leaders can live in riches?

If not Christian, what are they ACTUALLY doing to better the next human person?

Again, The Pope is not God! He is as human as the next person and suceptible to the same failings as everyone else. The Church on the other hand is a different matter! Divinely instituted by Jesus Christ Himself who PROMISED to guard it from the gates of Hades, and be with it until the end means (with or without the Pope) The Church is already TRUE!

:cool:
 
I answered him by saying that I don’t really think the pope truly sits on a throne of gold (not sure about that one) and that there are many Catholic charities that help the poor such as St. Vincent de Paul. That shut him up about that. Now he is saying that Catholics try to usurp the power of God. :rolleyes:
 
Your ‘friend’ clearly has either no knowledge, or a “learned knowledge” of Catholcism!

Perhaps s/he should do some research first before being critical, and then come looking for ‘clarification’ from you.

Good Luck

:cool:
 
Deconi said:
Your ‘friend’ clearly has either no knowledge, or a “learned knowledge” of Catholcism!

Perhaps s/he should do some research first before being critical, and then come looking for ‘clarification’ from you.

Good Luck

:cool:
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I agree with you but I don’t see that happening. This person has showed an unwillingness to learn. I linked him to an article on Catholic Answers and he wouldn’t look at it saying that it is propaganda. So yeah, I am just trying my best with the help of you guys on here and the articles at Catholic Answers and places like Scripture Catholic to answer his questions. Pray for me!
 
Holly3278 said:
Hi everyone. I am chatting with someone who claims that the Catholic Church can’t be true because the “Pope sits on a throne of gold while people starve.” What can I say to answer this accusation? :confused:
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Why? Is God not true because He is in heaven while mankind is here on earth? There is simply no logic in it.
 
agangbern said:
Wondering what is the logical connection between the truth or falsity of the Church and the presence of starving people.
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Oh. I think what this person means is why does the Pope have all his riches and does not sell those riches or whatever to help the poor and that somehow that shows the Church is wrong. I don’t see the logic in it either but I hope that clears up what this person is saying somewhat.
 
Tell him he’s obviously wrong since he lives indoors and has a job while other people live in the streets and are unemployed.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
Holly3278 said:
Oh. I think what this person means is why does the Pope have all his riches and does not sell those riches or whatever to help the poor and that somehow that shows the Church is wrong. I don’t see the logic in it either but I hope that clears up what this person is saying somewhat.
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This makes me remember the day when Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with precious ointment. Judas objected saying, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?” Now he said this not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and holding the purse, used to take what was put in it. Jesus therefore said,“Let her be, that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you have always with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:5-8) We do not always have the same individual sitting on the chair of the Pope.
 
I have had people make comments about all of the Church’s “real estate.” I simply remind them that the Church has had nearly 2000 years to acquire assets; it’s not as if all of this came to them over the course of 50 years or so. That usually shuts them up.
 
agangbern said:
This makes me remember the day when Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with precious ointment. Judas objected saying, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?” Now he said this not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and holding the purse, used to take what was put in it. Jesus therefore said,“Let her be, that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you have always with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:5-8) We do not always have the same individual sitting on the chair of the Pope.
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Very good point!
 
I think if I were Pope, I would get a different chair. Gold does not sound comfortable at all. :rolleyes:
 
Your friend is not sincere. He has placed an obstacle in the way as a way of refusing to even look at anything true. I have friends that I can not talk to about this. I believe in a Franciscan way of life that all of us should consider. However, I also like Opus Dei and the work they do. However, I do not believe that is what Christ truly wants from us and so I place Franciscan way over Opus Dei. However, we need money to survive. But how many humble piur rich people do you know. The Pope does not personally own the throne. Your friend is the type that would strip off the petina of the antinque and call it better. Where as we know that to strip an antinque would make it nothing more than another piece of furnature with old wood. Ironically this does happen. I stripped an antique of many coats of paint. I did the same with an old singer. But in my situation the pieces were not really ancient nor that valuable. However, the throne of the Holy See would be a major issue getting rid of it since its history is very old and ties us to the past as a reminder of the many good things and bad things that have taken place from the throne. We are a people of symbols and we need to be riminded…Got to go
 
That’s like saying that a country is not a true nation because the President doesn’t sell off the expensive antiques created in a time when people expected this sort of thing. The throne he speaks about was placed in a museum for a while. Yes, I googled it. Many Bishops have opted to reduce the overhead of the expense of such items because of modern concerns like this. However, the Papal Throne has already been put out of commission because of ridicule like this. Your friend is not up with the times and is hanging onto typical anti-Catholic rhetoric. Your friend is not sincere or else he would actually look at the materials you present to him. I wonder why you don’t seem to see this. The throne would logically be better off serving as a historical piece than to sell it off to satisfy the every desires of a lay person and a non-Catholic to begin with. I guess all of those countries should sell off all of the castles furniture and feed the poor too – never mind the vacation revenue generated by it. I guess our countries should just sell everything that is overly expensive and forget the artist behind the scenes creating these artistic symbols. First of all I bet if you do some research you’ll find a wooden chair painted or overlain with gold as opposed to solid gold. The chair is more valuable as an antique than a melted down piece of nothing.

Let’s lot appreciate the art behind making paintings, clothing, homes, furniture, statues, etc…lets sterilize the world and make us all look exactly like each other. You know, this sounds a bit like Judas. … Oh I better stop before I get started. This is utterly ridiculous and a chase after wind. There is actually a term used for this and I just can’t think of it because I try not to remind myself of such things because it is so discouraging to discover how insincere people really can get. Your friend is just placing an obstacle in front of himself for the sole purpose of refusing to be moved to respect and seek truth. This falls in line with all of the other anti-Catholic or even anti-Authority agendas of people that are self proclaimed advocates of the poor. I believe in the Franciscan life style. But selling off relics to satisfy some jerk that is holier than thou. I’m not sure that it would be wise to even discuss anything in depth with someone so demented.

That is not a logical argument. It’s more of a red herring. I wouldn’t waist my time. I have friends too that reject Catholicism. So reality has it that I have to pick friends that I can fellowship with and those that are mere acquaintances. Or as Dr. Phil says “good luck with that”.
 
I believe it is a matter of public record that when our late dear John Paul II died, he had no personal property to leave in his will. Now we all saw him wearing the robes and the crowns, etc. But. . .they couldn’t have been HIS, otherwise he could have left them. So there appears to be a misunderstanding on your friend’s part that just because a man has articles to use IN HIS JOB, does not mean he OWNS them.

Would he ask for an employee driving a ‘company’ car to sell the car? What do you think would happen if the employee tried to do so?

And even IF all the bishops and the Popes got together, and got permission from ALL THE CATHOLICS IN THE WORLD to sell ‘anything’ which was considered part of the church’s property–statues, gold, paintings, etc. . .

Just how much money do you think ‘the poor’ would get, when all was said and done–plus, after the few coins had all been spent, all the things which OTHER PEOPLE SPENT THEIR LIVES MAKING FOR GOD would be gathering dust in some gazillionair’s museum, never to be seen freely by other people. Seems like a darned POOR TRADEOFF to me. . .and very shortsighted too!
 
Holly3278 said:
Hi everyone. I am chatting with someone who claims that the Catholic Church can’t be true because the “Pope sits on a throne of gold while people starve.” What can I say to answer this accusation? :confused:
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If the Pope’s got such a good deal, tell your friend to begin his discernment for the priesthood.

Everyone knows how rich Catholic priests are, right? I mean, their vestments are threaded with gold, they drink from a golden chalice, they eat from a golden bowl…

After long years of service, perhaps your friend will get elevated to bishop, maybe even cardinal, and one day the smoke may waft over the Vatican indicating that he may now sit on the throne of gold too.

And along the way, he will have fed many more starving people than he’s doing by snickering on the sidelines.
 
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