Here is a simple poll (and thank you for all those who answer GOOD OR EVIL) - Does the Vatican stand for GOOD or EVIL? If you say GOOD, then how do you account for the fact that the Catholic Church still refuses to produce a consolidated global account of its hundreds of Billions in assets- a fraction that could save the world from hunger- a church that refuses to acknowledge its deep connections into World War II and the Catholic Dictators and still pays money (eg Australia) to hush up Priest pedophilia. If you say EVIL, then how do you explain no media coverage of the alleged links of Pope Pius as Puppet Master of Hitler? How do you explain all the charity work by the Catholic Church around the world?
Religion & Spirituality - 19 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
EVIL....Not because you do something right means that at the bottom you are good..... Acts 16:16 "And it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain servant girl with a spirit, a demon of divination, met us. She used to furnish her masters with much gain by practicing the art of prediction. 17 This [girl] kept following Paul and us and crying out with the words: “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who are publishing to YOU the way of salvation.†18 This she kept doing for many days. Finally Paul got tired of it and turned and said to the spirit: “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.†And it came out that very hour.
2 :
The catholic church is pure evil and the Vatican is the very embodiment of that evil.
3 :
The Vatican is just a piece of real estate. It's the people inside it that you need to worry about...
4 :
When you're obscenely wealthy, you can't be evil. You just kill all who oppose you.
5 :
Its both. Its run by men who have a "sin nature" (read Romans) and some of them are virtuous; some are sinful. It is any worse or better in your household?
6 :
Evil
7 :
"evil" is a religious word. ....it's completely relative and has little meaning...the definition of "evil" can be anything you want it to mean (usually, whatever you think is REALLY BAD is "evil" ...eg. Ozzy, Elvis, Bush, Satan, Spongebob, chocolate, or the Vatican)
8 :
Evil
9 :
Crusades, Inquisition, Witch Trials. protecting Nazis, now a ex Hitler youth is the Pope....go figure.
10 :
Your question implys the the Vatican is one person and can be accountable as one person when in fact it is a group of like mineded folks that some where along the line got derailed. Even tho I don't agree with everything the catholic religion does as a given whole I do belive there are some good priest and nuns within it's walls. Now haveing sad that there are also some very very very bad people who seek protection within it's walls and they should be thrown out to the dogs.
11 :
Neither I'm sorry I cannot be brief. A person place or thing cannot be either good nor evil, it is the action and the intent of the person performing the action that is good or evil. Brightest Blessings MappaM
12 :
A place is neither "good" nor "evil".
13 :
mostly evil i would say (as an institution). charity work is either a cover up or done by real heart christians that care.
14 :
Good very Good, all the treasures the church owns is for the entire world to enjoy, The word catholic means universal, not all religions can say that. The church has a long history, and mistakes have taken place, The last Pope was the real cause of the fall of Russia, Do you really think the world would be better off without the Catholic Church, I think Not
15 :
EVIL , How do you explain why the Catholic Church executed Galileo because he was daring to suggest that the Earth orbits the Sun? charity around the world ? hahahahahahahahahahahahha....
16 :
Good, like it or not the church is the world's largest charitable organization, be careful to judge, less you be judged. No one is perfect, not even the church and we are all sinners, even the pope.
17 :
While the historical Catholic church is responsible for many an atrocity, I believe it's tendentious (at best) to insist they are the same institution that, for example, initiated the Inquisition. In this historical period, their positions on reproduction, women's rights, and such make them seem more churlish and abrasive than anything approaching "evil." On the other side of that equation, as an institution they are involved in great works of charity and education. And for me it's a good thing when when a hungry person gets fed - even if you make silly signs while you do it. Lastly, they, and some others, have not caved in to the forces of dogmatic backwardness - e.g., the anti-science forces running rampant in the Evangelical & Muslim movements.
18 :
Firstly they do not have too! How do you know they have Billions if they did not say?conjecture! Is it not more of a fact that the world trade organisations force this hunger onto people? Secondly The church is very much free from that anti Catholic libel, It did not have anything to do with Nazi's. In fact you would not find one Jew to agree with you as It is well known that the Church harboured thousands of Jews even at the Cost of many Priests loosing their lives. Thirdly The Church has apologised Time and again for the rouge priests that where never men of God but predators, It is hard to see what any organisation could do but try to compensate for that as they are doing. The Catholic church stands out above all others, of course you know that these things happen out side of Catholicism? Because it is such a sacred institution,The fact is that it has become a weapon to use against the church, by anti Catholic lobbyists, Alot of the allegations are also false, 99.9 of Catholic priests do a fine job and they are being attacked as if they where paedophiles. Why are you even asking this of the Catholic Church? Why not one of the tens off thousands of other churches that call them selves Christian and are very rich? Have you got an Agenda? If not then why the Catholic Church?
19 :
Good. The wealth of the Church is ancient and not "liquid" assets. And no amount of money could "save the world from hunger." As Jesus said "the poor will be with you always." The Catholic Church provides more food, housing and services to the poor than any other charity in the world. The Catholic Church doesn't have "conncetions" to WWII. Judging what little we know about the people, the events surrounding something that happened 70 years ago is wrong. According to the December 23, 1940 issue of Time magazine on page 38, Einstein said: Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks... Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly. The December 23, 1940 issue of Time magazine contains an interesting article about Christians living in Germany, both Catholic and Protestant, who opposed and suffered under the Nazis. On page 38, it claims that by late 1940 over 200,000 Christians were prisoners in Nazi concentration camps, with some estimates as high as 800,000. On page 40, it reports on the Archbishop of Munich, Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber, who led the Catholic opposition in Germany against the Nazis. In an Advent 1933 sermon, he preached: "Let us not forget that we were saved not by German blood but by the blood of Christ!" in response to Nazi racism. In 1934 the Cardinal "narrowly missed a Nazi bullet", while in 1938 a Nazi mob broke the windows in his residence. Even though he was over seventy and in poor health, he still led the Catholic German resistance against Hitler. Not trusting the new regime, the Vatican signed a Concordat with the Reich on July 20, 1933 in an attempt to protect the Church's rights in Germany. But the Nazis quickly violated its articles. In Lent 1937 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical "Mit brennender Sorge" (With burning sorrow) with the help of German bishops and Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII). It was smuggled into Germany and read in all German Catholic churches at the same hour on Palm Sunday 1937. It did not explicitly mention Hitler or Nazism, but it firmly condemned the Nazi doctrines. On September 20, 1938, Pius XI told German pilgrims that no Christian can take part in anti-Semitism, since spiritually all Christians are Semites. The Catholic Church does not pay money to hush up priests. That's a media perspective meant to increase ratings. The pope has directly addressed the problem, met with victims and apologized. The Church is part of soiciety. Most of the allegations are very old and took place at a time in our society when sexual misconduct was not openly discussed, nor was there any help for victims. The Church is made up of human beings, at the time of the sex abuse we had little to work with as far as education, programs, and laws. The Catholic Church is the Church Christ started. But this does not make the persons in it perfect. We do not have a crystal ball to see the future. As human beings we are limited by the current state of understanding in the world. It is easy to judge in hindsight since we know the outcome of the war and all the truths of the horrors committed, but those who lived during it did not have all those pieces. Sexual crimes have only really been prosecuted in the last 25 years or less. Many people all across the world got away with all sorts of sexual crimes because of the lack of help and infrastructure available. Things have changed. People want to beat up the Church, but what about the government? Why did it take so long for anyone to take it all seriously and do something about it? I remember when women, who had been raped, were harassed and shamed on the witness stand about their own sexual habits, and women were fired for reporting sexual inapproapriate encounters with their bosses. Things were just different. This is not to say it was okay, only that all of the society did not respect and believe victims, so many of them just said nothing.
