Chronicling the Collapse of Civilization

Or that is how it is beginning to feel.

Item: two leading Italian newspapers report that Cardinal Becciu, recently dismissed from his Vatican position by Pope Francis, actually put 700,000 Euros of Church funds into bribing witnesses to get Cardinal Pell of Australia charged and convicted of child sex abuse. This was because Pell was in charge of cleaning up Vatican finances. It was to get him out of the way.

If true, it sounds as though the Mafia had taken over the Vatican. It seems good news that Becciu was ousted, but disturbing that he got this far. We have discovered recently that we cannot trust even cardinals: they are entirely likely to be criminals.

But at least we can trust the Pope, right?

Pope Francis’s recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, while perhaps theologically unobjectionable, looks very political in its interests: “The document focuses on contemporary social and economic problems.” It calls for a world government and open borders. It calls for reform of the UN. Francis writes, disapprovingly, “Certain populist political regimes, as well as certain liberal economic approaches, maintain that an influx of migrants is to be prevented at all costs.” And the timing looks like an attempt to influence the US election.

This reinforces a growing sense that Francis’s primary concerns are political, not spiritual. He is a politician, not a religious man. And his politics lean left—in an essentially irreligious direction.