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Opus Dei To Hunt Down Vatican Whistle-Blowers
First time accepted submitter Aguazul2 writes "In a familiar story relocated into the bizarre world of the Vatican, a whistle-blower who brought to light excessive overpayments on contracts to friendly suppliers was sent to the USA as punishment, and further sources of leaks are now being hunted down by a crack team headed by an 82-year old Opus Dei cardinal. It's just like Wikileaks, only with parchment and quills — probably."
...we need anonymity systems. People who are afraid to report unethical behavior are less likely to report it (shocking!), and whistleblower protections are neither universal nor reliable.
Palm trees and 8
Most of the Catholic-church-secret-agent ones are pretty fun to watch...
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
Has the Vatican not been wasting vast amounts of gullible people's money on stupid shit for over a millennium?
This is the penguin from Bloom County, right?
When did he become a cardinal???? Last time I heard he was still with Bill the Cat in the band Deathtongue!!!!
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Never would have thought having a reputation as a whistle blower in the Catholic church would have been a career killer. Matter of fact I would have thought it would result some serious upward mobility.
'I don't know what it's called. I just know the sound it makes, when it takes a man's life.' ~ Four Leaf Tayback
"Round up all the choir boys, we need to probe them to see if they've ever leaked."
Keep your legs crossed and your mouth shut, expect in the confessional where you can tell us all but no one else. Whats wrong with this picture?
I assure you its more up to date than pens-and-quills. He is one of their dozen astronomers and they have state-of-art observatories around the world .
Must... find... albino... assassin... religionfreak... and... send... him... after... whistleblowers... (Amen?) ------ But seriously, what a weird story this is. Isn't the Vatican supposed to be all about "The Truth Shall Set Thee Free" because, erm, Christian belief mandates it? So what is wrong with a little whistleblowing? Why is someone exposing the truth even a "whistleblower" in this particular case? Very strange story all around...
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
Let me clearly state from the outset that I bear no ill will against any individual Catholics who wish to abide by the religion of their choosing. But to look at the long history of the corruption and arrogance of the Catholic hierarchy and not feel completely outraged is to facilitate their wrongdoing.
Just two recent examples: First, the child rape scandal. It was going on for decades, while superior members of the clergy would help cover up the abuse of children by pedophile priests by shuffling them around, colluding with local law enforcement to intimidate families, and paying hush money. To this day they fight the allegations, trying to minimize the impact of what they did and frame their actions as that of a small number of isolated "deviant homosexual" priests, while complaining about paying money to victims that they could be using "for the greater good." They don't talk about making reparations or holding accountable the officials who turned a blind eye or even assisted in the systemic corruption of covering up these atrocities.
Second example: this case. So the Vatican has been shown to be corrupt in its financial dealings, and what is their reaction? Hunt down the whistleblowers, rather than punish the ones doing the actual crime! It's the same kind of thinking--what threatens the Church, in their view, is not the failure to do the morally proper thing. It's whomever exposes their leadership for the arrogant crimes they commit under the guise of being holy.
I don't understand how Catholics can sanctify these dirty old men as the self-appointed leaders of their faith. If that's what your spirit tells you, then maybe you should consider the possibility that you're being held spiritually hostage by these people as a way to further their power, and the reality is that if you truly want to be closer to God, there are far better ways to do that than through these morally bankrupt charlatans.
Although the story is interesting, this is not the place for it.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
... is Dan Brown furiously scribbling notes for his next book.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Funny that a religious organization would hunt down whistleblowers, but provide shelter for child molesters.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Unfortunately, you got bad information. Let's get you started on the basics first: Start here.
It ain't the "Spanish Inquisition" as you and GP were talking about. That particular group is detailed here, and ran independently of the Vatican (it was a pet project of the Spanish crown). Surprisingly, as an institution the Spanish Inquisition lasted into the 19th Century.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
God supposedly already knows your sins whether you tell them or not. In fact, he knows them before you even commit the sins, or before you even think of committing them first place. Telling a priest does nothing.
Thus the purpose of confession is so that the Church has the goods on everybody in the community.
This will be the Italian Inquisition. We should expect it to be much like the Spanish Inquisition, but instead of burning books there will be zapping Blackberries and iPads with staff weapons.
Oh, the humor will be different, too. Less wry; more pratfalls.
Will
I think your post can be one of two things. Since I'm a charitable sort, I'm going to assume it's very witty and not a simple troll from a 12 year old. Here's why:
A few years ago, I was approached by a customer to create 1500 bumper stickers that said "Gay Guys Suck!". My boss got all squeamish, and was really hesitant to do this, as he didn't want our company to be seen as "anti-gay". I couldn't help but laugh at his discomfort, and went ahead with the job anyway.
The customer that wanted the stickers was a buddy of one of my buddies, and they were intending to hand them out at the gay pride parade in Salt Lake City (which is a surprisingly popular event here). The design was a psychedelic rainbow with black text. Oh, and when I say "buddies" I mean two guys that have been together for 15 years, and attend each and every pride parade, doing something like this each and every year.
The sticker was *designed* to generate a knee-jerk response from people who just don't get it, in a very clever version of "Bwahaha... sometimes you straight folks are so silly when you try not to be awkward..."
Don't always take what people say at seeming face value; sometimes there's a deeper concept you might be missing. The above post could actually be pretty clever, viewed in the right light.