Roman Archbishop praises Bill Gates' 'philanthropy'

Protests to the Pope (benedictxvi@vatican.va) and to Archbishop Cordes (corunum@corunum.va), please: Archbishop Cordes made his remarks while presenting the Pope's Lenten Message, in his role as President of the Pontifical Council 'Cor Unum'.

"Global entrepeneurs, such as a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffet, establish social foundations. ... As Christians, we note, not without satisfaction, that in social life the Biblical commandment of love for neighbor seems to be universally accepted."

The Archbishop is either ignorant of the aggressively pro-abortion nature of the Gates Foundation (to which Gates's friend Buffet has contributed enormous sums) or is deliberately undermining the teaching of the Church. The second seems impossible, but the first is quite incredible, given the nature of his job. The purpose of 'Cor Unum' is as follows (taken from the Vatican website):

MISSION

COR UNUM expresses "the care of the Catholic Church for the needy, thereby encouraging human fellowship and making manifest the charity of Christ" (Apostolic Constitution Pastor bonus, art. 145).

OBJECTIVES :

• To assist the Pope and be his instrument for carrying out special initiatives in the field of humanitarian actions when disasters occur, or in the field of integral human promotion;

• To foster the catechesis of Charity and encourage the faithful to give a concrete witness to evangelical charity;

• To encourage and coordinate the initiatives of Catholic Organizations through the exchange of information and by promoting fraternal cooperation in favour of integral human development.

For more commentary, see Rorate Caeli.