It's "cash only" now for tourists at the Vatican wanting to pay for museum tickets, souvenirs and other services after Italy's central bank decided to block electronic payments, including credit cards, at the tiny city-state.
Deutsche Bank Italia, which for some 15 years had provided the Vatican with electronic payment services, said Thursday that the Bank of Italy had pulled its authorization after Dec. 31.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the Italian central bank took the action because the Holy See has not yet fully complied with European Union safeguards against money laundering. That means Italian banks are not authorized to operate within the Vatican, which is in the process of improving its mechanisms to combat laundering....
Whenever I hear tourists and Vatican mentioned within rhe same sentence, I think of all the people going up those stairs on their knees for indulgences to get out of "Purgatory" sooner. Not only the stairs, but there arw so many places where one can do this or that to get an indulgence. What a joke, and how arrogant that these Popes believe that all power in Heaven and on Earth is theirs to use as they will. For anyone to make the claims that they do, well...I'm just always so aggrivated that they have and are actively misleading billions of people...misleading them to their eternal deaths. The Pope's were some of the most wicked, depraved men (and boys) that ever walked planet Earth yet so many have placed their blind trust in them to get them to Heaven. I have no doubt that these Popes have an army of demons surrounding them at all times to protect them and to whisper into their ears.
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