this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
567 points (97.5% liked)

Interesting Global News

2798 readers
737 users here now

What is global news?

Something that happened or was uncovered recently anywhere in the world. It doesn't have to have global implications. Just has to be informative in some way.


Post guidelines

Title formatPost title should mirror the news source title.
URL formatPost URL should be the original link to the article (even if paywalled) and archived copies left in the body. It allows avoiding duplicate posts when cross-posting.
[Opinion] prefixOpinion (op-ed) articles must use [Opinion] prefix before the title.


Rules

1. English onlyTitle and associated content has to be in English.
2. No social media postsAvoid all social media posts. Try searching for a source that has a written article or transcription on the subject.
3. Respectful communicationAll communication has to be respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences.
4. InclusivityEveryone is welcome here regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
5. Ad hominem attacksAny kind of personal attacks are expressly forbidden. If you can't argue your position without attacking a person's character, you already lost the argument.
6. Off-topic tangentsStay on topic. Keep it relevant.
7. Instance rules may applyIf something is not covered by community rules, but are against lemmy.zip instance rules, they will be enforced.


Companion communities

Icon attribution | Banner attribution

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Can all the nations they stole artifacts and trinkets from get them back when they declare bankruptcy? /s

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Ummmm... Fuck them?

[–] [email protected] 52 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (11 children)

Except they have billions in stolen art and could liquidate it at any point. If not trillions, actually.

Nobody knows exactly what Vatican has but Porphyry Basin in the Vatican Museum is estimated to be worth 2$ billion alone (it was commissioned by Emperor Nero).

Vatican could literally end the world hunger with their treasure hoard.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

Why would they want to end world hunger? What could motivate them to do so?

Hmm...

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago (4 children)

I am an agnostic so my opinion might not be worth anything to Christians (or Catholics specifically), but I don't really see the point in organized church structures. If you believe in God, support his ideals, why do you need to go to church anyway, or at least why would you want your local church support some big hierarchy (often with controversial opinions or actions) for your money?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

It's been a long while since I was involved in a church, but my recollection of the Bible isn't able to reference anything that implies there is a need for the hierarchy associated with the Catholic Church, or similar. It kind of says you can have a personal relationship with God, and I don't recall anything about Mary being special in any way aside from giving birth to the so called Messiah.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

"Faith without works is dead."

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

Same reason people go to comicons or music concerts or protests. People just want to be with others who believe in and like the same things as they do. It's a pretty simple and basic human behavior.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Sell your fucking chair, you clown.

disgustingly gold chair

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Pope Francis got rid of that already, some 10 years ago.

I haven't seen him on that chair since, but I'm sure it's somewhere collecting dust.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Not sitting on it =/= getting rid of it

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Aww geez, our 1500 year old grift isn’t working as well as it used to, sad!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Thoughts and prayers!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 days ago (2 children)

What little concessions they made to progressives was far too little too late while former popes sided with child abusers and rapists.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Martin Luther has entered the chat

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The joke is that Francis was still too far left for the big money Opus Dei Catholics in The United States and Europe.

They weren't friendly enough to the rapists. That's why the donations are drying up

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Or maybe it's because people can't afford to donate money when they can barely afford rent and groceries

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The Catholic Church isn't getting the bulk of its money from lay voters. Their influence is rooted in the large, wealthy communities of the old money aristocracy and newer money financial sectors. Big donations have historically granted members an elevated role in the civilian side of the church. And churches are highly influential in promoting business relationships and political careers.

Of late, the American branch of the Catholic Church - historically a huge contributor to the Vatican directly and to foreign missions internationally - has cultivated a very far-right orientation within its political wing. You can see that in the conversion of current VP-elect JD Vance to Catholicism back in 2019. This, along with far-right catholic politicians like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Jim Risch having increasing influence over US foreign policy. And the elevation of a slew of Catholic SCOTUS judges - Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett - five of the last eight seated over twenty years.

These political leaders and the big financial interests that back them (US Bancorp, Bank of America, and Fidelity Investments most notably) are all historical Catholic Church mega-donors. The Catholic Church runs some of the biggest charities in the US (and the world). And diversion of funds from "Peter's Pence" (donations directly to the Vatican) to regional church organizations administered by Americans with loyalty to their right-wing local parties, is what's cutting into the available funds.

Report: Catholic charitable giving (and the church) are moving to the Southwest, July 2023

Last year, just under half of all Fidelity Charitable donors (48 percent) directed grants to religious houses of worship, the report found, down two points from three years earlier. A closer examination of the report reveals which nonprofits receive support, and Catholic organizations, which include dioceses as well as human services organizations with church ties, continue to rank among the top beneficiaries of support in many U.S. cities.

...

According to the National Philanthropic Trust, nearly $46 billion was dispersed from donor-advised funds in the United States in 2021. That is a massive increase from just nine years earlier, when about $8.5 billion was given to charities from these funds.

The Catholic organizations - particularly in the US - are not running out of cash. The Vatican is running out of cash.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 days ago

Time to start selling Indulgences again.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Just pray. If your God is the creator of the universe, it's pretty likely he can handle the situation once you let him know.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

Dont forget the thoughts.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›