21:12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Matthew 21

For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him, I hid my face and was wroth: and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.

Isaiah 57:17

And he said unto them, Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Luke 12:15

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:24

CATHOLIC pilgrims and the public will be able to buy papal mementos after Sydney's archbishop gave his blessing to indulging in "a little commercialism".

Shoppers will be able to buy World Youth Day (WYD) souvenirs such as special WYD rosary beads, Pope Benedict XVI baseball caps, rugby jerseys and even teaspoons featuring a photograph of the pontiff.

Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell opened one of at least four merchandise stores to be erected in Sydney for the six-day WYDay event.

Cardinal Pell said the church was not looking to make a profit from merchandise sales.

“The church doesn't expect to make a profit,” Cardinal Pell said.

“It was never a moneymaking venture.”

He said he hoped the company established to run WYD merchandising, Event Merchandising Group, made a profit.

“There's nothing immoral with a little commercialism,” Cardinal Pell said.

“Our way of life is built on commercialism, on trade, on industry, on finance and people have got a right to make a living out of doing a good thing, which is spreading Christ's message in a modern way.”

He said he expected merchandise, such as the “WYDGET” token trading bracelet, to be a big hit with pilgrims.

Christianity 2008

All organised religion is a refuge for the weak minded and gullible created by the greedy. What couldn't you do to benefit the lives of others with $200,000,000? You could provide a lot of safe drinking water to people at risk of water borne diseases, save people from blindness, you could join the fight the fight against malaria or ensure practically universal access to condoms against AIDS. Instead millions of suckers will flock to Sydney to 'commune with god' through their credit cards. That's the saddest thing about religion. If the idiots would put the same effort into curing cancer or developing renewable energy, we'd have done it by now. If religions did the things the claim to do, I wouldn't have a problem with them. Instead of peace and love, the most important things to the Catholic church are gay sex, right wing politics and money, not necessarily in that order.