Rich Catholics vs. the pope

[frigidmagi]

Da Popen Don't Stop

If anyone wonders whether Pope Francis has irritated wealthy conservatives with his courage and idealism, the latest outburst from Kenneth Langone left little doubt. Sounding both aggressive and whiny, the billionaire investor warned that he and his overprivileged friends might withhold their millions from church and charity unless the pontiff stops preaching against the excesses and cruelty of unleashed capitalism.

According to Langone, such criticism from the Holy See could ultimately hurt the sensitive feelings of the rich so badly that they become “incapable of feeling compassion for the poor.” He also said rich donors are already losing their enthusiasm for the restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan — a very specific threat that he mentioned directly to Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

Langone is not only a leading fundraiser for church projects but a generous donor to hospitals, universities and cancer charities (often for programs and buildings named after him, in the style of today’s self-promoting philanthropists). Among the super-rich, he has many friends and associates who may share his excitable temperament.

While his ultimatum seems senseless — would a person of true faith stiff the church and the poor? — it may well be sincere. And Langone spends freely to promote his political and economic views, in the company of the Koch brothers and other Republican plutocrats. Still, a pope brave enough to face down the mafia over his financial reform of the murky Vatican Bank shouldn’t be much fazed by the likes of Langone.

Yet Langone has reason to worry that the Holy Father is in fact asking hard questions about people like him. Indeed, he could serve as a living symbol of the gross and growing economic inequality that disfigures the American system and threatens democracy.

As a leader of the New York Stock Exchange, he was largely responsible for the scandalous overpayment of his friend Richard Grasso, the exchange president who received nearly $190 million in deferred compensation when he stepped down. Although New York’s highest court eventually upheld Grasso’s pay package, it was a perfect example of the unaccountable, self-serving greed of Wall Street’s elite.

So it's not enough to have more money then you can count, but everyone has to say nice things about you all the time or you'll cry and go home? Bloody hell what a damn sissy bitch. Someone tell him to put his big boy pants on and man up.

[rhoenix]

How did that quote from the Bible go? "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven"?

When I read about this guy, and how he pointedly is only a philanthropist for advertising purposes, the above quote fits pretty damn well.

And another thing - didn't Jesus have something of an issue with moneyed people and churches? I recall that he tossed a number of the moneychangers out of church.

[LadyTevar]

Oh yes, Jesus did have a very angry rampage through the outside of the Temple, whipping the money-lenders and those who were selling birds and beasts for the priests to sacrifice. They'd turned a House of Worship into a common marketplace.

I am sure Pope Francis will recall this passage when/if he responds to Mr. Langone. Perhaps His Holiness will even make it a personal phone call.

On a side note: The Pope cold-called a group of nuns, whom he'd known in Argentina. His call, unfortunately, came when they were at prayer, so on their answering machine is His Holiness asking "What could Nuns be doing that they do not answer the phone? This is Francis, I will try back later."