If you’re unaware of this, I apologize in advance for increasing the amount of catecholamines (that’s a chemical neurotransmitter secreted by your amygdala) circulating in your brain.
Remember a few months back, when the Pope decided to come to Britain and the tap was picked up by taxpayers? Well, it turns out a big chunk of the costs actually came from the Department for International Development (about 2 million pounds of it to be exact). That’s the same department responsible for using funds to help developing countries financially.
If you’re wondering how they can justify taking money away from the poor to subsidize one of the wealthiest organization in the world, you forget government officials are masters of bullshit:
DFID said it was one of a number of government departments that part – funded the Pope’s visit.
“Our contribution recognized the Catholic Church’s role as a major provider of health and education services in developing countries. This money does not constitute official development assistance and is therefore additional to the Coalition Government’s historic commitment to meet the 0.7 per cent UN aid target from 2013.”
The committee also warned that the higher priority being given in aid spending to war zones and other fragile states would make it harder to be sure taxpayers’ cash was being well spent.
Oh, I see. Because aid monies are occasionally embezzled by corrupt governments, it’s really no big deal, right? You might as well give it to a guy who literally eats on gold plates and has precious jewels woven into his clothing. Sounds totally reasonable to me!
The total cost of the Pope’s visit ended up costing you over £10 million, and in a time when the UK is considering cutting vital education services in order to make up for shortfalls in the budget. The public should be outraged over this complete waste of everyone’s money. Next time the Pope wants to take a trip somewhere, I think it’s just wiser to deny him entry unless he wants to pay for his own fucking vacation. Is that really too much to ask?