This Holy Year of 2025 is off to a stunningly bad start with the dying process of Pope Francis, the star attraction, sidelined and made invisible or disappeared by his critical condition.
But apart from that, the Vatican has instituted policies of making money off of tourists who come to see St. Peter’s Basilica.
Elizabeth Lev writes a stinging commentary on this situation. She is a Catholic historian, living in Rome, who gives tours of historic Catholic sites and shrines in Rome. She teaches seminarians and priests on sabbatical in Rome. I can testify to her knowledge and that her commentary is to be taken seriously as I had her twice for historical tours in Rome when I was in Rome for two sabbaticals:
The Jubilee: Call to Conversion or Cash Cow?
And yes, there have been many graces already in 2025, but the beacon of the Year of Hope has been dimmed by hasty policy changes at St. Peter’s Basilica.
This is due to what, one presumes, the basilica administrators considered a clever plan to combat Vatican deficits by drawing a line between tourists and “pilgrims,” soaking money from the former while preserving free worship for the latter. Card-carrying Pilgrims continue to access the basilica from the magnificent Via della Conciliazione, but mere “tourists” are routed out of the Piazza San Pietro and lined up along the road leading to the Sant’Anna entrance to Vatican City.
Well-heeled tourists, however, may also skip the line by paying 7 euros for a fast pass into the basilica. Bernini’s colonnade, designed to resemble the open arms of a church for the whole world, ready to welcome one and all, has been turned into a web of barriers to enforce the new system, and while the desperate financial straits of the Holy See are common knowledge, it could be that exploiting the pope’s basilica will turn out to be robbing Paul to pay Peter. After all, the Holy Year is supposed to be about saving time in Purgatory, not saving time in line.
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3 comments:
Fortunately this mess is nearing collapse. The hierarchy almost thoroughly corrupt , which likely to be a good thing, for they will likely take retirement when the salary stops and will need to draw on their stashed money.
In this life, one thing counts
In the bank, large amounts
I'm afraid these don't grow on trees
You've got to pick a pocket or two
You've got to pick a pocket or two, boys!
You've got to pick a pocket or two
"Swipe to pre-purchase your communion wafer HERE"
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