Just another shit-show of a patriarchal white man controlling women, this time in funny clothing. According to NPR, The Catholic archbishop of San Francisco says that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is no longer allowed to receive Communion because of her vocal support for abortion rights. My opinion is she’s actually better off not sucking down the bread and wine offered – who knows who handled that crust of bread, anyway?
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote in a letter to Pelosi, "I am hereby notifying you that you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, until such time as you [publicly] repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance.”
And then in the spirit (-us Sancti) of ‘guys in funny hats that rule the roost,’ the New York Times reported that Patriarch Kirill I has provided spiritual cover for the invasion of Ukraine, reaping vast resources for his church in return.
Also reported is that His (Kirill’s) church reaped tens of millions of dollars to reconstruct churches and state financing for religious schools. The St. Basil the Great Foundation of Konstantin Malofeev, a Russian Orthodox oligarch close to Mr. Putin, paid for the renovation of the Moscow headquarters of the church’s department of external church relations, which Kirill used to run.
Kirill raised taxes significantly, and with no transparency, on his own churches, while his own personal assets remained classified. Mr. Chapnin, who had been personally appointed by Kirill to run the church’s official journal, began criticizing him and was fired in 2015.
In September of last year I wrote a bit about one of my favorite film directors, Federico Fellini. I said Fellini, like Picasso, had a knack for tweaking the elite, often without them knowing it. Of course, due to the fame of both of these artists, they also became the elite, at least in their fields. But they both had the good sense and taste to continue their work rather than run for office. And one reason for posting this today is that we are currently smack dab in the middle of a Felliniesque period with no Hollywood ending in sight.
In a Zoom with Pope Francis, Kirill spent 20 minutes reading prepared remarks, echoing the arguments of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that the war in Ukraine was necessary to purge Nazis and oppose NATO expansion. Francis was so flabbergasted he told Kirill that “Brother, we are not clerics of the state.”
If you haven’t watched the truly stunning Ecclesiastical Fashion Show Scene from Fellini’s Roma, check it out. It exposes the utter opulence and hypocrisy behind the costumery, pomp, and pageantry of the church.
And now…
Effing churches, doh!!
O thank you Master of Memory. I’d forgotten how fantabulous and prescient this scene was.