Royal Purple

Issue date: 10/8/08 Section: Opinion

Hauck [Click to enlarge]

Despite his ripe old age of 81, Pope Benedict XVI demonstrated on Monday that he is still flexible enough to reach his foot all the way up to his mouth by saying that the world's financial systems are "built on sand."

The Pope said "We are now seeing, in the collapse of major banks, that money vanishes, it is nothing. All these things that appear to be real are in fact secondary. Only God's words are a solid reality."

It is surprising that the pope takes this stance, because the Roman Catholic Church seems to think that money is definitely something. Across the world, it is doubtful there are many organizations, governments or otherwise, to rival the church in land ownership and assets. The church also invests heavily across the world, in banks and corporations.

If the pope believes money is nothing, if he believes that "Only God's words are a solid reality," then perhaps he should realize that just as money is secondary, so too is his goofy wardrobe, so too is the plane that he travels the world in and so too are the beautiful buildings of the Vatican City. It is a rare duality that one who lives in such luxury would expound on the lack of meaning of the money that enables him to do so.

Pope Benedict XVI is able to talk about money as if it were nothing because he works for an organization that has not been starved for cash in hundreds of years. His income is not based on how hard or how much he labors; it is based on people's belief that their contribution will please a divine being who has the power to send them to heaven or hell. When money is earned through a man's own sweat or exertion, it becomes something.

Ayn Rand captured this reality more concisely than this writer can when she said "It stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there's someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master."

Pope Benedict XVI and the Roman Catholic Church should not be preaching to the world that its pursuit of material wealth is an empty exercise. Instead, they should be reassuring the Catholics of the world that just as they supported the church financially when they were able to do so, now the church will make an effort to help them out financially during the tough times that lay ahead for the religious and the secular alike.

Perhaps some room could be found in the budget between the expenditures for vestments and giant gold crosses.

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