Financial Scandals Inside the Catholic Church will be Big in 2024


The trail of a scandal inside the Catholic Church has been going on for a long time. It involved huge amounts of money taken from church goers and squandered in ways almost incomprehensible. The Vatican Court hearing the case says it will issue a ruling in mid December. It is uncertain whether this will be the end of the matter or if much will remain unresolved. The link author thinks the story has other revelations coming. 

Religion and money certainly have a bad history together. If I were a wagering person I would bet that the Mormon church eventually will see some huge scandals about money. News reports say it has, not hundreds of millions stashed away, but billions. If Mormon officials are humans that money will corrupt their thinking and some will be used for seedy purposes. The Mormons seem more even secretive than Catholics.   

It is often repeated that religion and religious groups are the most unregulated institutions in our country. Of course, the argument is made any regulation violates religious freedom. I wish it were possible to separate we could call "beliefs" and make them free of regulation but regulate on money collected and spent. If any groups of people is vulnerable for scam and deceit it is those who are religious. They should be protected.

There is one healthy development. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University has been fined for deceptive advertising. The fine was big. Even better would be if churches were fined for making claims about heaven and hell. It's quite seedy to have a preacher preach about heaven and hell then ask for money. It's as if the money kept you from hell or got you into heaven. Trump was not the first to discover "The Art of the Deal."

Even though there is still too much money controlled by religious organizations, the passage of time is reducing donors which will eventually reduce the money. It cannot happen to soon.  

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