Easter Maths?

Of course, there had been a good reason for Ciro Guardaccione, saying

This is a fantastic thing, I would like to thank Pope Francis for everything

the background for this statement being a recent step made by the Vatican  on which teleSUR reported in an article on April the 12th:

On Monday Pope Francis opened a free laundromat for people living on the streets in Rome.The Pope Francis Laundry, located in an abandoned hospital near the Vatican, was opened to “restore dignity to many people who are our brothers and sisters,” according to a statement.

It is good news, those, who are preparing for the Easter celebrations, going then to mass, make take into their hearts.

Still, doing the maths I am a bit hesitant when it comes to joining into any jubilee, or asking for extending the Misericordiae Vultus, even if the pope also rejects harshly hypocrisy, stating:

“There are those who say ‘I am very Catholic, I always go to Mass, I belong to this and that association’,” the head of the Roman Catholic Church said.

He said some of these people should also say, “‘my life is not Christian, I don’t pay my employees proper salaries, I exploit people, I do dirty business, I launder money, (I lead) a double life’.”

Of course, we see that the church under the current leader is working on the issue:

The Vatican passed its first legislation against money laundering and terrorist group funding in 2011. At the Vatican Bank, Pope Francis has brought in new leadership, increased transparency and limited access to the bank to diocese and other Catholic organizations to further fight against money laundering. Under his watch, the bank also disclosed its very first annual financial report in 2013 (the bank released a second annual report last year).

But there some issues remain on the agenda that raise doubts and the question if we are actually facing a double hypocrisy: arguing against hypocrisy in the world while standing on hypocritical feet makes two right? And though knowing too well, that selling the assets and feeding the poor is not the solution, issues as the following remain on the table:

• Vatican Inc.: 5 facts about the business of the Catholic Church
• What is the Catholic Church’s estimated net worth?
• How rich is the Vatican? So wealthy it can stumble across millions of euros just ‘tucked away’
• The Catholic Church is the Biggest Financial Power on Earth
• Germany’s richest diocese has greater assets than the Vatican

So far, at least, and if we can believe the satires, the son, when going to the cross, was joined by two people: Dismas, the penitent thief, and Gestas, the impenitent thief, the latter supposedly asking for salvation, the first asking to be remembered, the first very much behaving according the ‘life style’, that was much later named utilitarian – and on which I reflected recently. It surely is over-interpreted, still, there remains the question why Dismas was supposed in the left side of Jesus

Varieties of capitalism – impressions of an eternal tourist

Rome – Berlin
Long queues – visitors waiting for access to a building
One building? Of course not – how could it be so when talking about two different cities.
Still, one common feature:
They are waiting to access the cupola: of the basilica in Rome, of the Reichstag in Berlin
Faith and democracy??

Faith versus democracy??

One point is striking: not so much that there are only few religious people wearing a habit in Berlin. But surely that there so many police(wo)men, security guards … wearing ordinary working uniforms instead of the fancy gala uniforms they wear back home.
Very much the same though: the huge amount of people sleeping rough next to the train station … and for them it is surely not a major difference that in the one country it is Caritas, in the other the Bahnhofmission that looks after them, the one with sleeping bags the other with a soup kitchen …

…. Variety of capitalism …