The Elusive Truth

Dark clouds gathering over the Vatican

Italy's La Repubblica daily quoted Pope Francis as saying 1 in 50 clerics is a pedophile. The figure represents about 8,000 priests out of more than 400,000 worldwide, according to the latest statistics from the Vatican. A figure which includes priests "and even bishops and cardinals." A figure which includes priests in Singapore who are supposedly strongly pro-family. And we are worried about penguins?

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the quotations in the newspaper on the existence of pedophile cardinals did not correspond to what the pope actually said. According to the BBC, off-the-cuff statements made by the pope often lend themselves to ambiguity.

But our ministers were not speaking off-the-cuff, either in or out of parliament, when they continue their spiel on the unholy mess of the Central Provident Fund (CPF). Even the local rag put out an ad to reassure the doubting Thomases that "With CPF, working Singaporeans do not have to pay for the retirement benefits of those who have retired. Every dollar saved in CPF will benefit you and your loved ones". That last sentence can't be correct. If you don't have to pay for others who have retired, the number should not include "your loved ones" - latter will have to bear their own burdens. If the pope has a credibility problem, what more the propagators of a flawed retirement system?