Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis: Against liberalism, critic of the IMF and foreign debt

[JDPriestly]

5. Let's hope he will change Catholicism.

After the naming of this Pope, I pulled a book out of my shelf entitled "In God's Name" (1984). I bought it used years ago somewhere but, when I bought it and started it, the thesis seemed so far-fetched to me that I stopped reading after a few pages and left it on my shelf.

The author of this book, David A. Yallop, theorized that Pope John Paul I who was elected August 26, 1978 and died on September 28 that same year was murdered. I haven't finished the book, but, and I know it's unfair to judge the book since I have only read half of it, but just the idea that a Pope could be murdered in the Vatican seems far-fetched to me. I read a few pages and just did not continue. Now I'm reading it again, and I find it far too fascinating to put down. In fact I read half-way through the book just today.

What fascinates me now that I did not appreciate years ago when I first bought the book is the detailed account of the scandals of the Vatican and Ambrosiana and related banks during the 1970s. It is just amazing. Technically, it is in many respects quite different from the banking scandal of the Bush era. But in some ways it is similar.

The Vatican is very wealthy. It was no doubt involved as was most of the wealth in the world in some way, great or small in the Bush era banking scandals. I couldn't guess just how much or how.

I am wondering whether Pope Francis will finally clean up that bank and the money laundering and favoritism toward the rich that has plagued the Vatican and made a mockery of the Roman Catholic form of Christianity for centuries. That's a big job. It's a lot to ask. I doubt that anyone can do it. If he wants to try, I can only wish him well.

If he tries and fails, the Catholic Church will, in my opinion become an institution with a glorious past and no future.

If he doesn't try at all, the church will just be a big joke all over the world as it is to many Europeans who are Catholic in name only or who are seeking a spiritual reality in spite of the Church already. (OK. DU atheists. I hear you and I'm not going to argue with those of you. It's OK. Really. I have no quarrel with you, but let others think and feel what they will even if you can't.)