Almost 500 years ago, Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation was triggered by the church "selling salvation" in the form of "Indulgences" to the wealthy wicked. Seems nothing changes.

The Vatican is facing a deepening controversy over the burial 22 years ago of a notorious crime boss, with reports emerging that the church accepted a one billion lire ($750,000) payment from the mobster's widow to allow his interment in a basilica next to popes and cardinals after his death in 1990.

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*shakes head*
Everyone's lookin to get a piece of the pie.
Look on the bright side though, they aren't sending us out on crusades anymore. ^_^

The crusades are still on, but the Public Relations Office in the Vatican has more wise staff than it had thousand of years ago 

[jordyn]

paying for your sins is nothing new, wasn't that one of the issues Jesus had with the Jewish hierarchy? Why live well when you can pay for forgiveness, sort of defeats the purpose of a God.

The diamond-studded tomb of Enrico De Pedis was exhumed in mid-May. Officials said that De Pedis' body was "well preserved" and that he was recognised by detectives present. He was still dressed in a dark blue suit and black tie. However, a box of bones was found inside the tomb which officials said were "not those of De Pedis"...  There is a great deal of speculation that the mystery body is that of missing 15-year old schoolgirl Emanuela Orlandi, who disappeared in 1983. Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's chief exorcist, has publicly stated that she was snatched from the streets of central Rome in the summer of 1983 and forced to take part in Vatican sex parties: "The network involved diplomatic personnel from a foreign embassy to the Holy See. I believe Emanuela ended up a victim of this circle."

Of course, speculation is just that. The official stance is that the unidentified bones "probably date from the early 19th century," and are being analysed by forensic experts to see if any of them might belong to Emanuela.

Although, you don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to suspect that the Roman church will not be exactly... transparent.

[jordyn]

There's not much to debate here, that church has always been associated with shady dealings that go against the very book they stitched together, personally i think rome from their first embrace of christianity by that silly constatine and his mom has done nothing but ruin what were originally good ideas to be more human and less homo sapien.

Religion started off as a good idea in a world with no real law enforcement. The idea that you behave or else it will catch up with you is still the foundation of modern laws and morals. Some religious rites are basically just hygienic ways to prepare food and stop the generally ignorant population from dying of dysentery. In truth, early humanity might not have gotten far without it.

How some religious leaders now just use it as another road to power is a despicable abomination of a tradition that we should be allowed to be proud of. I've honestly nothing against religion, but those who use it as an excuse to say stupid things and cling to an inflated sense of self-importance or to garner money and power, are no better than any other parasite.

 

Hehe, another Nazi-Pope fake  =)

The actual caption for that photograph reads:

"Together with interior minister Wilhelm Frick (second from the right) and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (far right), Catholic bishops Franz Rudolf Bornewasser (Bishop of Trier) and Lugwig Sebastian (Bishop of Speyer) raise their hands in the Nazi salute at an official ceremony in Saarbrucken city hall marking the re-incorporation of the Saarland into the German Reich."

Which was in 1935.

When Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) was only 8 years old.

hey, the kid had big bones 

Big appetite too, by the look of it.