Pope angered by VIP banquet held during canonization ceremony
May 23, 2014
Pope Francis was angry when he learned that a Vatican agency had organized an expensive VIP dinner during the canonization ceremonies for Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, the Catholic News Agency (CNA) has reported.
About 150 guests ate a “sumptuous” meal on a veranda of the building that houses the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs. The banquet—with a cost that reportedly exceeded $25,000— ran counter to the Pope’s frequent admonitions that the Church should embrace the virtue of poverty.
“I can’t reveal what he said,” said Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, the head of the Prefectures for Economic affairs, “and I can only say that he was not pleased.”
Cardinal Versaldi, who was not present at the banquet, said that he was not aware the event was taking place. “Like many of you, I was also surprised and outraged by this,” he said. The cardinal said that he is now investigating how the event was organized.
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Posted by: fwhermann3492 -
May. 23, 2014 6:18 PM ET USA
Good, that's what we need in our shepherds: a bit of righteous anger. Christ didn't shrink from overturning the tables of the moneychangers when they got too close to the temple, nor should our bishops and popes hesitate to confront all the corruption in the church and among those who profess to be a part of it.
