[ventana]

But if the Pope had directed them to oppose it (segregation; Jim Crow) you'd have been crowing about his next orders to "redistribute the wealth," "support unions," and blah, blah, blah. With you it's damned if you do and damned if you don't. You aren't interested in debate, but mere gainsaying. V's wife.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

The Pope didn't direct them to oppose slavery, and a century later, didn't direct them to oppose segregation. Whether by moral ineptitude or by design, it always seems that the Vatican seems to prefer a world with a small number of oligarchs and a large number of impoverished peasants, which are conveniently easy to control. I call it "global Guatemalicization", named after the impoverished Catholic peasantry of Central America. An independent, economically self sufficient middle class doesn't integrate well into the Vatican mindset - they're more likely to throw off the yoke.