by Anura Guruge
on December 20, 2022
“Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”
— ‘Mark Twain’ (i.e., ‘Samuel Langhorne Clemens’),
Note to the “Young People’s Society”,
‘Greenpoint Presbyterian Church’,
Feb. 16, 1901
Pope Francis has done the right thing.
This puts more pressure on Britain & the ‘British Museum‘ as to the much larger & more famous’ horde of ‘Elgin Parthenon Marbles‘ pilfered from Greece.
The Vatican, with its near 2,000-year history of political maneuvering, is being exceedingly clever as to how it is handling this whole matter to avoid setting any awkward precedents. The marbles are not being simply returned to Greece — as they really should be. Instead the Pope is DONATING them to the ‘Greek Orthodox Church‘. There is a perverse irony in this in that the Parthenon was a Pagan Temple dedicated to ‘Athena‘!
This is nonetheless still all good. One could even say a good start. Though unlikely the Vatican could be more generous is redistributing some of its huge — & in many cases ill-gotten — horde of art treasures (much of it not even on public display because they have so much).
