Let Pope pay his own way

Sir — I believe it’s outrageous that Irish citizens are expected to fork out expenses for the Pope’s visit in August. Especially as the Vatican vaults contain trillions of dollars in priceless treasures and hold billions of dollars in real estate worldwide.

Every year, thousands of people leave money and property to the Vatican. Even in Ireland at least 30 people leave property on their death to the Catholic Church. The Vatican Bank holds billions of dollars in gold bars.

In my opinion, popery has passed its sell-by date, yet billions of people still believe a cosmic clockmaker snapped his fingers to create humans rather than billions of years of evolution. We should remember that Socrates was executed for teaching the youth of his day not to be like sheep, but to think for themselves and to question everything to do with politics and religion. Charles Darwin warned that it’s a waste of time to try to argue with anybody indoctrinated with a religion.

It’s no wonder Darwinism implies that the only eternal life we can expect is the recycling of our atoms, of which we are all composed, when our bodies decay. These will be incorporated into other organisms.

At least that is compatible with common sense and logic, unlike the various religious with their illogical utterances. Gordon Cunningham, Donaghmede,

Dublin 13