BishopAccountability.org
	Thoughtful, If Angry, Look at Vatican Money Flow By Jason Berry Winnipeg Free Press July 9, 2011 http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/thoughtful-if-angry-look-at-vatican-money-flow-125259154.html THE Vatican is not only the centre -- many Catholics would call it the heart and soul -- of the Roman Catholic Church, it is also a nation state. As such it has a population of less than 1,000 to support its minuscule budget, by nation-state standards, of $280 million a year. Nevertheless, Vatican City may be the most opulent city in the world, an oddity that may be explained by the fact that it exists only to serve the Church of Rome and that gives it a potential tax base of 1.2 billion people. That is the number of Catholics in the world, and every week many of them will drop money into their parish church's collection plate. How much money those collections raise every year, no one knows, because the Vatican holds itself accountable to no earthly authority. That it is a huge amount, however, can be estimated by the fact that Peter's Pence, a special collection held once a year, raises close to $100 million annually, all of which is sent directly to the Pope to be spent at his discretion and for which he does not have to account. So where does all this money go? That is the question that Jason Berry, a fierce American critic of the Catholic Church's shortcomings, although a Catholic himself, asks in Render Unto Rome, in which he attacks what he believes is the corruption and the unaccountability of the Vatican's financial administration. There is no doubt that there has been plenty of both throughout the history of the Roman Catholic Church, although perhaps not surprisingly when you consider that it is the largest single organization in the world and almost certainly one of its wealthiest. In any case, Berry, the author of several previous books, including Lead Us Not into Temptation, dealing with the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked Rome's foundations, has no trouble finding them. In Render Unto Rome, the sexual abuse scandal that occupied Berry in his two previous books plays a large part as well, not only in his continuing and admirable refusals to accept silence as a response to the major moral crisis in the Church. Berry attributes much of the current corruption in the Church to the lack of financial accountability. But nothing has cast light on the Church's finances in recent years like the punitive payments that have been paid out and are still being paid -- more than $2 billion and counting in America alone. This scandal in Boston particularly intrigues Berry's imagination. Across America, billions of dollars in church property are being sold off, often at fire sale prices to pay for these abuse settlements. Berry uses the Boston situation to encapsulate how sexual corruption on the grand scale led to compounded corruption when the new and reforming head of the archdiocese of Boston was instructed by the secretary of state to turn over a list of properties to him. Berry argues that it is ultimately the unaccountability of the Church that has brought it to this position. Even Popes have failed to do their duty, or their duty as most Catholics would see it. This is an often angry but frequently thoughtful book that challenges beliefs and raises the question of what might be and, more important, what should be. Tom Oleson is a member of the Free Press editorial board.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.