The NSA And The Pope

And it came to pass the NSA, in its big-brother madness, decided if you spy on the German Chancellor you might as well spy on the Pope.

Moral considerations aside, it is very clear why the White House would have an interest in bugging not only the Vatican, but the rooms and phones of every Cardinal and Archbishop who are considered key players and able to influence the US electorate.

Let us imagine the – or one – leading US Cardinal had – just talking in abstract here – a pretty young thing on the side. The NSA would soon know everything about it, and at that point the above mentioned Cardinal would be entirely in their hands. The smallest hint from an NSA official – whispered only once to the ear of the Cardinal – would be enough to ensure the man plays for you instead of against you, invites Obama to dinner for the photographs, and in general limits his opposition to homosexual agenda, HHS mandate & Co. To the bare minimum to be halfway believable to the unknowing sheep.

The same game can, of course, be played with the Man in White. Find anything dirty about him – from his Argentinian past at the time of the militar dictatorship, to the cover-up of pedophile activity: the list is very long – and you will have him in front of the choice whether facing the shame in front of the planet or becoming the manageable puppet of BO in pretty much everything, perhaps even downplaying the issues of abortion and homosexuality so that the Obama-voting Mickey-mouse Catholics feel reinforced in their decision to close three eyes in front of reality.

It makes, therefore, perfect sense – from a purely political point of view – for the White House to spy the Pope, Dolan, and every other prelate that might becomr uncomfortable to them. Apparently, Bergoglio himself might have been spied since 2005, when he must have emerged as a man of power after the Conclave, and one able to exert an influence in South American issues.

One could – again, morality aside – construe an even more daring scenario: the NSA spies as many Cardinals as they can, and at the appropriate time tell to the twelve or fourteen of twenty of them who have been found with some corpse of sort in the cellar that it would be very nice – and would guarantee them peaceful years – if they directed their vote toward a pleasant, utterly vapid, rambling candidate the Obama administration knows would be a godsend for them. One they can sell as a man of “progress. An Obama in white. Hope and Change, eh? no?

Mind, I do not say this is what happened, and I discourage everyone from starting to fantasize about an invalid papal election. Searching is one thing; finding, another; manage to use the find a different one again.

Still, let us be realistic here: the NSA does not sniff in the life of Popes and Cardinals to know their favourite ice cream taste, or because they think the Russians and Chinese give them information useful for the US security. No: they do it to monitor how they influence the political discourse in, say, South America, or – next logical step – to try to domesticate one of the most powerful organisations on the planet; one that can influence the political discourse in several dozen countries – and certainly in the US – like no other non-governmental organisation could.

Who knows what might come to light one day. Perhaps the one or other strange dinner invitation or appeasing policy might be explained – if not justified – that way.

Fiction, you think? What if I told you the White House spies the Vatican?

Mundabor

Keep Cardinal Ravasi Away From Twitter

I know there are a lot of stupid Cardinals around, but Cardinal Ravasi must lead the pack.

It is questionable whether a Catholic boy of fifteen would tweet fragments of lyrics of a just deceased musician without thinking whether he is giving the wrong example. It is unpardonable if a Cardinal does it.

Lou Reed dies and our oh so pop-culture loving Cardinal does not tweet reflecting about the fact that Lou Reed now sits in front of His judge. Like a very stupid fifteen years old, he tweets words from one of his songs, dedicated to heroine. If a Cardinal absolutely wants to tweet, he should do it to evangelise and be more efficient in his work; not to shamelessly promote himself as the cool guy. These people always talk of being “pastoral”, but what they really mean is being popular and having a quiet life.

Mind, I do not doubt stupid Cardinals have not been invented in the last half century. But in former times they did not have the possibility of showing the entire planet how unbelievably childish and – repetita iuvant -astonishingly stupid they are.

Cardinal Ravasi is a Cardinal in the mould of the current Pontiff. Being popular among the faithless and loved by the masses is clearly his first priority. There could be no other reason on earth why a Cardinal would, otherwise, tweet the lyrics of a dead pop star. In the modern race for popularity at all costs, Cardinal Ravasi did not want to stay behind, and we see the results.

One must say, though, even Bergoglio would avoid being as stupid as that. When he says something stupid, it generally is because he wants to.

Keep children away from knives, and Cardinal Ravasi away from Twitter.

Mundabor