MANILA, Philippines - Even the leader of the Catholic church has a tale of attempted bribery.
In an unofficial transcript released by the Jesuit publication America Magazine of an interview with Pope Francis yesterday on “Shepherd One” – Philippine Airlines’ special direct flight to Rome – the pontiff urged the faithful to say sorry for the offenses committed by corrupt Catholics as he narrated his own encounter with bribery.
The pope said that in 1994, when he had just been named bishop of the depressed Flores quarter of Buenos Aires, two employees or functionaries of a ministry went to tell him that his diocese had so many needs with many poor people.
“Oh yes,” the then bishop said, and the two employees told him: “We can help you. We have, if you want, a subsidy of $400,000.”
Pope Francis said at the time the exchange rate with the dollar was one is to one.
The pope said he listened, “because when the offer is big, even the saint is challenged.”
According to Pope Francis, the bribers said that to do this, they would make the deposit and then he would give them back half as kickback.
“In that moment, I thought about what I would do: either I insult them and give them a kick where the sun never shines, or I play the fool,” Pope Francis said.
“I played the fool and said, in truth, we at the vicariate don’t have an account. You have to make the deposit at the archdiocese’s office with the receipt. And that was it,” the pope added.
The employees then left, according to the pope.
“But later I thought, if these two landed without even asking for a runway – it’s a bad thought – it’s because someone else said yes. But it’s a bad thought, no?” the pontiff said.
“We must ask pardon for those Catholics, those Christians who scandalize with their corruption. It’s a wound in the church,” Pope Francis said.
But the pope said there are still a lot of Catholics who may be sinners, but are not corrupt.
“Let’s look at the other side too. The church is holy,” he said.
He acknowledged that corruption is a major problem that needs to be addressed.
“Corruption is the order of the day in today’s world, and a corrupt attitude easily and immediately finds a nest in the institutions, particularly those that have so many branches,” he said.
The pope said the corrupt person “who does corrupt deals or governs corruptly or associates himself with others in order to do corrupt deals is robbing the people of what they deserve.”