Why Roman Catholic Church indulges in Pomp and Grandeur?

Question

Everyone who reads the life of Jesus Christ is impressed, by
his down to earth simplicity, bordering poverty and his reluctance to show off by using superior dresses and live in grand palaces.

Tradition has it that he did not even have a house to live. Once he felt threatened by lightning. It was raining cats and dogs and
he was running from place to place. He went to a cave , but it
was occupied by a woman. Then he went to another but it was
the dwelling place of a beast. So he said, there is a home even for a beast, but son of Adam has no place to save himself
from the lightining. Upon this God sent Archangel Gabrael to
him who informed him that God has made a palace of pearls for him in the paradise which has 60,000 well decorated suits in it. Contrary to this simplicity, we see Pope and cardinals in shining dresses, living in grand palaces like princes. Does love for Jesus not require one to live like him and behave
like him? Who oversees the conduct of pope?

Answer 1

I ama roman catholic and as a roman catholic that has his eyes open and not sewed shut by the imbiciles in the heiracy I applaud your question / statement.

The R.C. church is nothing but a business...the coffers of the vatican hold billions of pounds its probably the richest church in the world yet when a church needs repair it doesnt open its pockets and pay for the repair it begs for more money of its already impoverished flock as per usual.

Here in New york My fiancees daughter attends a catholic school and the School had the bare faced effrontery and sheer bloody cheek to demand a donation of $5 or her daughters school report would not be issued.. gotta love a faith that does that huh .

In my time as a child in a catholic school taught by sadistic frustrated nuns I learned quickly the hippocrosy with which the sisters of brutal mercy operated and as for the priests well they're so far up their own if not the altar boys backsides its unreal!

I love god i believe in god but I despise the hippocrites that proclaim they serve him especially those in the RC church.

I recall being beaten in front of the whole school by nuns on my first day for being a heathen !! my crime was I didn't know the Lords Prayer at age 6 !!!


has America seen the Magdalene sisters film ?? should be incitelfull into exactly how barbaric the penguin bitches were or is it a secret that the RC church didn't want to let out in the USA .

http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/religion/a/magdalenesister.htm

The film was made after startling discoveries of bodies in unmarked graves besides the slave laundries in ireland I(n the 1960's inmates some of whom were locked up by the rc church for being "Too Pretty" were worked to death or beaten to death or just simply driven mad by the torture rained down upon them by the sadistic nuns working in gods name.

sorry if I went off topic a little here but I despise the RC religion for its brutality and hippocrosy. And where the hell were they when the tsunami killed thousands did they open the vatican vaults to ease the suffering of the thousands of survivors ? like hell why would they the people were indonesian and therefore heathens right !!

Answer 2

If you believe in Jesus as your savior you should live like he would want. Not beg for money to build great cathedral buildings and buy beautiful jeweled crowns and clothing. How do these things feed the poor and his servants that spread the message of YHWH and salvation from sin?

Answer 3

That's a strange apocryphal tale about the cave. Anyway, this is one reason to love the Franciscans, the Poor Clares and the many other monastic orders pledged to poverty and purity. And let's remember that priests and bishops hardly own a thing to their name. No one denies there have been abuses in the past, as wealth and power tend to corrupt us - and temporal authority got mixed up with ecclesial authority after the Roman Empire crumbled and the Church was pretty much the only institution able to preserve some order in the chaos. But if you are asking the question on a somewhat theoretical - even an artistic - level, the answer is that the Church - founded by Jesus Christ Himself, the Lord of glory who reigns now in splendor - reflects some of that splendor in its liturgy and ceremonies. It is, in its high art, a preview of heavenly splendor in symbolic terms. I suppose it is an aesthetic that is related in concept to the Church's sacraments, which are visible signs of non-visible realities. Thus, the 'pomp' is a visible, artistic sign of invisible realities, too. In addition, much of the ceremony reflects and fulfills what we see in the Old Testament, where the priests also had colorful vestments and highly visual, strongly symbolic public ritual. I, for one, am glad the Catholic Church has such a high view of the fine arts, architecture, and music.

Answer 4

The worship of God should be spendid and solemn and the House of His Presence should be beautiful and inspiring as the Torah and Ezechiel command us.

Everybody oversees the conduct of the Pope including those who do not call their own church and civil leaders to account.

Write to the Pope ,cardinals and bishops and tell them that they should live simpler lives,if you believe that is what Jesus is calling them to in imitation of Christ and use the money used in maintaining high living for the Spiritual and corporal works of Mercy and the building and maintance of fitting and beautiful churches and shrines

Answer 5

The idea behind the shiny things and fine art is that we intend to offer the Lord our best, to make all things prayer and to offer all this beauty for Him. The Church offers actually two traditions: that of the fine vestments and art and a simpler standard set by St. Francis.

Truly, however, the key is not the external but the internal and it is God who sees the heart.

For example, if you put on your best clothes for church, whether you do it with purity and right intentions is seen only by God. So too are the efforts by the Church to glorify God with shining things.

As for wasting beautiful or expensive things on worship, we should be careful in judging...Remember the sinful woman who broke an alabaster jar of perfume to bless Jesus. She scandalized others who saw her act as a waste of money that could have been given to the poor. She loved extravagantly and He received her sacrifice of praise and dismissed the people who complained that the money should have been given to the poor...

Humans judge the exterior. God sees the heart.

Answer 6

There are thousands of Catholic Religious Communities whose members make solemn vows of poverty.

The grandeur you allude to is a reflection of God's glory, not a relfection of man's glory.

The vestments you see bishops and priests wearing during Mass are a part of ancient tradition, and are in a sense their "Sunday's best."

Why is it that when a non-Catholic minister prospers, builds bigger churches, and increases his congregation, people say that the Lord has blessed his ministry, but yet a different opinion is made of the Catholic Church?

Why no criticism of tele-evangelists who make no pretense of living in poverty, as they prance around stage in thousand-dollar tailored suits amid productions costing hundreds of thousands of dollars? Why the double standard?

Answer 7

It's all set in traditions dating back to the beginning of the church. Back in the days of the Roman Empire and through the Middle Ages.

A time when the church tithed and did all kinds of other crazy things. (Selling forgiveness...lol), so of course, the corrupt priests, bishops, cardinals, etc wore their wealth like everyone else who could afford to at the time.

Well, traditions are hard to forget, so now the greed has been replaced by tradition and other reasons have been assigned for what each piece of ceremonial attire represents.

Answer 8

All that living in a cave stuff is for the birds. If you're the Pope, might as well live like a baller and let people know it.

Answer 9

Jesus oversees the conduct of the pope.

Instead of knocking the Church for her beautiful catherals and churches, what are you doing to help the poor?

Answer 10

The pomp and grandeur you see inthe Catholic Church is a reflection of the grandeur of the power of God.

Peter Garbiel said it best in his song, Big Time, "And I will pray to a big God, 'cause I'm kneeling in a big church"