The Church needs St Luca Pacioli to put an end to priests, bishops and archbishops abusing Church resources for private pleasures

by Ganesh Sahathevan



                                         Portrait of Luca Pacioli


In these times when priests ,bishops and archbishops cannot be trusted to account for the use of the faithfuls' money, the Catholic Church ought to canonise Fra Luca Pacioli,the Father Of Accounting who gave the world double entry book-keeping.

In open defiance of  Canon Law,   priests,bishops and archbishops fail if not refuse to provide the faithful with annual financial statements. Many have been known to use the resources on pet projects,.This has included the Australian Bishops Conference which sees itself as a player on the international stage.

Then of course there are the financial scandals at the Vatican:



While these might seem like ordinary financial issues, Fra Luca probably understood that the discipline of the trial balance, P&L and balance sheet can be a force greater than the confessional and fear of God to ensure that men, including clergy keep to the straight and narrow.

We need Pacioili to be canonised as a reminder to all that lying in financial matters is a grave sin,which often reflects sins in a multitude of other areas in the life of many, including clergy.
His work affects the daily lives of billions regardless of faith, creed or race. His teaching that ones records of ones dealings are kept in verifiable order is worthy of emulation. 
END 




END

Image above Attributed to Jacopo de' Barbari - Lauwers, Luc & Willekens, Marleen: Five Hundred Years of Bookkeeping: A Portrait of Luca Pacioli (Tijdschrift voor Economie en Management, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 1994, vol. XXXIX issue 3 p. 289–304) pdf
It shows Pacioli standing behind a table and wearing the habit of a member of the Franciscan order. He draws a construction on a board, the edge of which bears the name Euclides. His left hand rests upon a page of an open book. This book may be his Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalità or a copy of Euclid. Upon the table rest the instruments of a mathematician: a sponge, a protractor, a pen, a case, a piece of chalk, and compasses. In the right corner of the table there is a dodecahedron resting upon a book bearing Pacioli's initials. An rhombicuboctahedron (a convex solid consisting of 18 squares and 8 triangles) suspends at the left of the painting. The identity of the young man at the right is uncertain, but one commentator recognizes the "eternal student" instructed by Pacioli. Some authors have also mentioned the possibility that the student is Dürer.

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