I find myself in the curious position of empathising with the Catholic Church.
In reference to the latest disclosures about Berlusconi and the young girls he is alleged to have paid to have sex with, Cardinal Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops Conference said, “Whoever accepts a public position must understand the sobriety, personal discipline, sense of measure and honour that come with it.” The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, added that the Roman Catholic Church urged greater “morality” and “legality” in public life.
Should the fact that its own priests and bishops have screwed, raped and abused the vulnerable prevent the Church from preaching to others about their behaviour? True, those Catholic priests rather forgot all about “sobriety, personal discipline, sense of measure and honour” that apparently come with public office. But preaching about morals is the gist of the Church’s business and the Church would have to close shop if prevented from preaching to others. And what then?
I wonder what Latin for Chutzpah is?
impudentia...
ReplyDeletesomeone else would step in
ReplyDeleteI think they say, "אפיפיור".
ReplyDelete"Coglioni" would fit.
ReplyDeletearen't we all sinners?
ReplyDeleteIt is not chutzpah but the churches' and our mission to fight for moral principles regardless whether we can be accused of double standards.
There seems to be a profound misunderstanding amongst those not Italian.
ReplyDeleteBerlusconi understands his electorate better than the foreigners:
Dabbling with certain young girls - who by most accounts are not at all vulnerable - wins him votes in Italy, provided everybody knows about the dabbling (never mind whether he actually had sex in his late seventies).
In politics, as we all know, morals matter less than appearances.