Pope Slams Gossiping Bishops, Cardinals

Pope Francis is mad as hell this Christmas. In his holiday greetings to the Holy See, the pope sharply criticized the cardinals, bishops, and priests for their “spiritual Alzheimer’s” and for perpetuating the “terrorism of gossip.” He also slammed cliques within the Vatican bureaucracy, which “enslave their members and become a cancer that threatens the harmony of the body.” In a separate address to Vatican staff, the pope begged forgiveness for the “several scandals” and “shortcomings” of church leaders. Pope Francis has taken steps this past year to clean up church corruption, including firing a German bishop who spent $43 million on a residential complex.