I’m selling this unseemly and ostentatious castle for a good price on behalf of ‘the poor’
Archbishop Paglia, the postulator for the cause of once-blocked Liberation Theology icon, Oscar Romero, and perhaps the only person who seems to have first-hand knowledge that Pope Benedict supposedly lifted it after blocking it for a generation, is being accused of fraud.
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, a Vatican official, is under investigation by Italian prosecutors on suspicion of embezzlement and price fixing during the sale of an historic castle, according to media reports Wednesday.
The sale of the San Girolamo castle in central Italy has already led to the arrest of two employees of the diocese of Terni where Paglia, who is president of the Holy See’s council for family matters, was bishop.
Now prosecutors are probing Paglia on allegations of criminal conspiracy and fraud in relation to the sale of the castle four years ago to real estate company IMI immobiliare, which was headed by one of the arrested diocese employees.
Diocese funds were allegedly used illegally and money was found to be missing from diocese funds.
According to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, which cited the prosecutor for the city of Terni in central Italy, Paglia is alleged to be one of the instigators of the fraud.
The mountain of things we are supposed to believe in the new FrancisChurch just gets higher and higher! Pope Francis doesn’t endorse the condemned Communist-produced heresy of Liberation Theology and neither did murdered, I mean ‘martyred,’ Archbishop Romero, but both of them repeatedly spoke and acted just like Liberation Theologists. Both associated with the leaders of the movement and receive their praises, and the FrancisChurch has placed its guiding ‘lights’ at the seats of highest honor in the Church.
The denials are perfunctory. The beatification itself is telling. Martyred for loving the poor? How do you love the poor by defending Marxist guerillas?
It’s not like we can put any confidence in the FrancisChurch saint-making operation, which completely ignores all semblance of ancient protocols, or any indication of approval from Heaven or the faithful whatsoever. Are we required to honor such saints, made by men who approve heresy, who even admit as much?
Here we learn that the man guiding the Romero cause seems to have been bilking the system for quite some time. Can we expect more from a man who promotes Catholic-Communism as some saintly crusade?
While the San Girolamo castle in the Narni area of central Italy is considered to be of great artistic and cultural value it is now believed to be left abandoned.
At the same time, the Terni diocese is one of the most indebted in Europe, with a deficit of some 25 million euros (about $27 million).
Paglia, 70, was the diocese bishop from 2000-2012 before Pope Benedict named him to the Pontifical Council for the Family, which promotes and protects family interests in the church.
He is also one of the most prominent Vatican officials who is a member of the Sant’Egidio Community, influential in Italy for its commitment to working with the poor and immigrants.
Pope Francis has issued strong statements against corruption, including during a visit in March to mafia territory in Naples.
“Corruption stinks, corrupt society stinks,” he told residents, adding that “we all have the potential to be corrupt and to slip into criminality”.
Sounds like those might just be words.
When the Catholic Church becomes nothing more than a politicized tool and a massive bureaucratic agency with a bishop’s face painted on the office door, why should we be surprised to hear they’re all in on the skim.