Friday 29th of March 2024

the smell of sulphur...

 

sulphur

“Taking into account that some may try to distort this institutional gesture, with the aim of creating confusion and sowing division among Argentines, we agree on suspending the non-refundable contribution fee amounting to 16,666,000,” they wrote in their response last week.

La Stampa, an Italian newspaper, said the rejection had come straight from the Pope himself.

“The Argentine government needs to address so many needs you shouldn’t be demanding a single penny from it,” said the 79-year-old when addressing the directors.

In the post-script, the Pontiff added: “I don’t like the 666.”

Pope Francis vs. President Macri

While the Pope’s pithy remark has attracted headlines, the incident has also widened a personal and political rift between Francis, formerly known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and Argentina’s current President, Mauricio Macri. The pontiff was Archbishop of Buenos Aires when Macri was its mayor for the six years prior to Pope Francis’ elevation to his current position.

 

MEANWHILE:

 

The Exclusive Brethren - recently rebranded the "Plymouth Brethren Christian Church" - practice a radical doctrine of "separation" and are not permitted to vote.

Brethren members cannot eat or socialise with "worldly" people, and excommunicated members are usually prevented from seeing their families, including their own children.

The group's wealthy leader, Sydney-based Bruce D. Hales - known as "the Elect" - has told his members to maintain an "utter hatred" of the outside world.

He recently addressed a sermon to a mentally tormented young member of his flock saying it would be better to "finish yourself off" with poison than communicate with members of his own family.

Fairfax Media has revealed Mr Hales ordered that some victims of child sexual abuse be paid off to keep quiet.

The Liberal party operatives who accepted the donations described them in documents as "friends".

 

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/no-complaints-malcolm-turnbull-defends-brethren-donations-to-liberal-party-20160618-gpm9z5.html

 

 

exclusive brethren...

 

It takes courage to expose scandals, particularly involving allegations of sexual abuse, which continue to be whitewashed by powerful religious organisations such as the Exclusive Brethren.  Michael Bachelard  is to be congratulated for holding no punches in his article ("Secrets of the Brethren", June 18-19.)

I left this secretive sect in 1968, but decades later I cannot forget the impact of hearing confessions of sexual misdemeanours broadcast by the perpetrators over a public address system to the captive congregation, which often numbered many hundreds of shocked souls.  Witnesses present on those occasions will remember that any notion of reporting these matters to the authorities, would not be countenanced.  The confessors would be forgiven or not by the church elders at their whim, every last person in the congregation understanding that the Brethren constituted the highest court in the land.  Victims from those far-off days reading this and still bearing the shame should speak out about their trauma, regardless of whether the perpetrators are alive or not.

It is no surprise that the Exclusive Brethren have gone into damage control and employed their public relations spin doctors to launch immediate denials and threats. This is proof of their complete lack of conscience and desperation to retain tax benefits and generous government handouts for their schools.  Not all the bluster and bravado in the world, most notably their rebranding to the name of Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and their claim to charitable works, can alter their sordid history. 

In Bachelard's related article ("Exclusive Brethren members are secret Liberal donors") he reveals the extent of the Brethren's history of covert and co-ordinated donations to the Liberal Party. Will the Prime Minister follow his predecessors in counting the Exclusive Brethren among his friends and take their tainted money? Malcolm Turnbull need look no further than the 2007 federal election when the sitting prime minister lost his seat of Bennelong, in no small part due to the reaction of voters over revelations of the Liberal Party's secret dealings with the Exclusive Brethren in Mr Howard's electorate.

Joy Nason Neutral Bay

 

It seems to me that the only thing good about the Exclusive Brethren is their practice of refusing to vote in elections on religious grounds. I understand the electoral authorities accept them as conscientious objectors in this regard.Although they have given large donations to Liberal Party, at least one group of nutters is eliminated from directly influencing the composition of Parliament.

Tom Kelly Potts Point

So homophobia is totally unacceptable, except in his own party, and he doesn't mind taking money from homophobes either. Now that is what I call a man of principle!

James Manché Dulwich Hill

 

 

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/exclusive-brethren-exposure-is-courageous-20160618-gpminw.html

 

 

See toon at top... The EBs are non-political, do not vote and give cash to the Libs (CONservatives)? HYPOCRITES !

hypocrites? us?

 

from the SMH (21-22 July 2018) — no link avaliable...

 

Well may Malcolm Turnbull as Pope Francis to sack Philip Wilson. In turn, the compassionate Pope may ask for a humane solution to Australia's offshore detention. Could Malcolm and Francis cut a deal?

Father Peter Confeggi, Mary Queen of the Family Catholic Parish, Blacktown.

 


If the Pope acts on the advice of the PM, would that mean Malcolm is God?

Max Frew, Newcastle.

 

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Please not that Francis of Assisi's followers were declared heretics by the Church is 1296 or something...

 

"Other groups that attracted the ire of the Catholics were the Spiritual Franciscans — The Fraticelli "Little Brethren" — who were proponents of Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), especially in regard to poverty. Young Francesco (the French Guy) had earlier got involved with young louts, addicted to evil and vice, until he got converted by god Himself (god is a male) possibly disguised as a leper (male). One day while riding through the countryside, Francis, who loved beauty, picky about food and hating deformity, came face to face with a leper. Repelled by the appearance of the leper, Francis jumped down from his horse and kissed the hand of the leper. When his kiss was returned, Francis was filled with joy. As he rode off, he turned around and saw that the leper had disappeared. He looked upon it as a test from God… and he had passed. This is why he wanted to be poor… Boy, do these sainthood revelations are a bit lacking in the narrative development. 


Anyway, his followers, the Franciscans, thus regarded the wealth of the Church as scandalous. They revolted and were declared heretics in 1296 by Boniface VIII."

 

Read more:

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/35011

 

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