Of course we are all concerned and dismayed by the devastation in Haiti. Experts knew that the capital, Port-au-Prince, was on an active fault line; the area had had bad earthquakes before. But the grinding poverty of the country and the corruption in its government have combined to mean that building codes have chronically been ignored; this has combined with overpopulation, caused mainly by the Catholic Church’s no-contraception policy, to create a situation that has contributed to the disaster.
In among the aid being given out, we don’t see anything from the much-vaunted Catholic charities. The aid may be there, but it certainly isn’t very visible. Now Vatican city is a state unto itself, and it has the highest income per capita of any state or nation. Yet we don’t see any vast pledges of money or help coming from Vatican City. And further, we are told apocryphically that the Church is still charging standard fees for masses for the dead and for burials. How two-faced can you get? (a) Don’t send aid–and (b) profit from the death toll.
When will these people who call themselves compassionate Christians wake up to what their church is doing every day? Take one of Yvonne’s one-liners for your own use, if you like:
Good people, bad leaders.
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