“Outrageous wealth” – hypocrisy at the highest level

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Wealth and poverty. A phenomenon ever-present in human history, one that is currently escalating to unprecedented proportions. A situation that is not only welcome, but presumably also deliberately created, allowing preachers to preach about “social justice” and, to truly demonstrate their inherent hypocrisy, to denounce “outrageous wealth” with all their might.

When the rich denounce the rich

Wealth is one thing, but “outrageous wealth” is quite another. Indeed, more and more wealth is being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people. This is a virtually “natural” consequence of the considered normal system of money creation (fiat money) through the accumulation of debt (actually, the acknowledgment of debt) and the demanded interest on seemingly lent money in the form of a loan. But when it comes to “outrageous wealth” and viewed from a Christian perspective, the “complaint” about it from the mouth of Pope Leo XIV can be described as nothing short of a joke.

Jesus Christ knew this, addressed it, and called for the poor and needy to be fed and clothed. But he left no calls for this imbalance to be remedied through measures of expropriation, today called “burden sharing and social justice.” Matthew 26:11:
“For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.“

Pre-celebrated biography of Leo XIV

As if the world had been waiting with anticipation and near-delivery, the Roman Catholic magazine “katholisch.de” announces the publication of its biography of Pope Leo XIV, scheduled for today. A work based on the exclusive interview with Vatican correspondent Elise Ann Allen from CRUX magazine. “Leo XIV, the global citizen and missionary of the 21st century,” is the translation of the biography “León XIV: Cuidadano del mundo, misonero del siglo 21” (Source).

It’s not surprising that Leo has critical points to make about the distribution of wealth in this world. Upon his accession to the pontificate, the newly elected Pope declared that, with his chosen papal title, he intended to assume the spiritual succession of Leo XIII. He is the author of the social encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (1891). Pope Francis also addressed the vision of “fraternity and social justice,” which he expressed in his encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” (2020). “Evil mouths” described his letter as a reissue of the “Communist Manifesto.”

Again the “fraternal, social justice”

According to an advance review of excerpts from the Pope’s biography, Leo XIV denounces the growing gap between the incomes of the working class and the wealth of the rich. He argues that the social influence of technology billionaires is particularly reprehensible. Leo sees multi-billionaire Elon Musk as a promising candidate to become the first trillionaire. If this is the only remaining value, “then we have a big problem,” the Pope said.

The Catholic magazine explains that “biblical tradition” obliges us not only to take the side of the disadvantaged, but also to reject “outrageous wealth.” The prophets in the “Hebrew Bible” never missed an opportunity to criticize the extremely wealthy at that time. Jesus proclaimed that rich people generally have a difficult time entering the Kingdom of God.

What things actually look like

It’s astonishing that people, burdened by everyday life and flooded with stimuli, no longer seem to notice such hypocrisy. The papacy’s unparalleled business acumen in every conceivable area where there is some form of wealth accumulation is nothing short of legendary.

The following is an excerpt from the “business areas” entered by the papacy over the course of its more than 1,700-year history.

• Indulgence trading
• Sale of blessings and titles
• Gold robbery (e.g., in part from colonies)
• Land (price increases)
• Real estate (price increases)
• Securities trading
• Corporate empire
• Aid organizations (profit-oriented, predominantly financed by third parties)
• Serfdom, slave trade
• Inquisition (expropriation, confiscation of assets)
• Witch hunts (expropriation)
• Sale of clerical positions
• Collection of tithes
• Prostitution, operation of brothels
• Forgery of documents, also as a service (e.g., by specialized Monks)
• Inheritance swindling (specialty of the Jesuit order)

The above bullet points cannot even begin to describe the unspeakable suffering that was, or rather, still is, associated with this. For, true to the motto, “war always brought us more benefit than peace,” the papacy also emerged from the First World War as a clear winner.

“People have come to the conclusion that the man who came out of the war best was the Pope!,” Cardinal Gasquet, 1919, Catholic Congress in Liverpool.

Wealth flow as a one-way street

The Vatican is the largest private landowner in the Federal Republic of Germany, owning approximately 8.25 billion square meters of land. Around 20 percent of all fields in Spain, Portugal, and Argentina are owned by the Vatican, which also owns approximately 1.1 million hectares of arable land in the USA. This represents only the areas suitable for cultivation and does not include forests and pastures. As of 1977 (journalist Paolo Ojetti), the Vatican owned around a quarter of all real estate and land in Rome. In the city of Verona, it even owned around half. By 1998, around a third of all houses in Rome were already in the hands of the papacy.

To ensure that the Church’s assets show as few losses as possible, essentially a one-way flow of money, the public sector contributes extensively to covering running costs. This includes the maintenance of old buildings owned by the Church. If it’s a matter of renovation or restoration, then “suddenly” historic preservation takes effect, and the taxpayer takes over. New facilities such as kindergartens or after-school care centers are financed with public funds, but upon completion, they are transferred entirely to the church.

Agreements in force to date

Just one example: In 1817, Pope Pius VII, the first reinstated pontiff after the deposition of his predecessor in 1798, reigned. Pius VII negotiated with the King of Bavaria, Maximilian I Joseph, a regulation of the incomes of archbishops, bishops, provosts, deans, canons, and vicars in the archdioceses of Munich and Bamberg, and the dioceses of Würzburg, Passau, Regensburg, Augsburg, Eichstätt, and Speyer. A concordat between the Holy See and the state of Bavaria followed in 1924. This agreement from 1817 was fully maintained and remains in effect to this day.

In 1986, the state of Bavaria paid former bishops and archbishops an annual pension of 900,000 DM (approximately 460,000 euros), salary supplements for auxiliary bishops of 180,000 DM, and an annual pension of 8.98 million DM for cathedral canons. Since full-time sacristans also have to be paid, Bavaria added an additional 200,000 DM to this. (Quelle: “Hirtenwort und Schäferstündchen”, Horst Herrmann, Seite 23)

Who pays for the training of the clergy? You’re welcome to guess.

Accordingly, people’s image of God

How elevated this Church viewed itself is demonstrated by Patriarch John of Antioch (Chrysostom), c. 349 to 407, “saint” and Doctor of the Church.
“Nothing is more powerful than the Church […] The Church is stronger than heaven […] Heaven exists for the sake of the Church, not for heaven’s sake!“

The reputation the Roman Church truly enjoyed among the people can be seen in the enormous jubilation, particularly in France, during the French Revolution after Pope Pius XI was removed from his “political-state office,” arrested, and exiled in 1798. The avowed non-Christian and philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche highlighted the damage caused to true Christianity by the churches and their rampant hypocrisy:

“I condemn Christianity; I level against the Christian Church the most terrible accusation ever uttered by an accuser. To me, it represents the ultimate corruption imaginable; it has been determined to commit the ultimate corruption imaginable.“

People carried and still carry a corresponding image of God in their heads.

Long announced

Preaching water, but drinking wine to the fullest. This with a fake Christian expression, thus summing up all hypocrisy according to Matthew 23 in one face.

“The abomination of the earth” is the name given to this ecclesiastical institution in Revelation 17:5. How true!

“Outrageous wealth,” the finger points away from herself, pointing at others. “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:” is another description according to Revelation 17:4.

This immeasurable wealth of the great earthly adversary was already foreseeing by the prophet Daniel during his exile in Babylon:
“And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High” (Daniel 7:25)

“He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.“, like that about the “king of the north” in Daniel 11:42-43.

The biblical representation

The papacy believes itself in the role of the earthly representative of Jesus, and even the Pope as the divine and adorable representative of the Son of God (Info). The outward appearance of the papacy itself does not match the image of Jesus Christ, which the prophet already described in the 8th century BC.

“For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:2-4)

These are characteristics that cannot be detected in, on, or around the papal structure of the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy See. In every aspect, be it appearance or teachings, they are the exact opposite of what the Gospel reveals to us.

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)