Interview about Honduran Card. Rodriguez Maradiaga

Ed Pentin, the superstar of English language Vaticanistas working in Rome, has a fascinating interview with the widow of the former Ambassador of Honduras to the Holy See.   It seems that she had taken investment advice given to her but Honduran Oscar Card. Rodriguez Maradiaga, who has been implicated in some shady financial dealings.   She followed his advice and the investment company disappeared with her money.

In the interview with Martha Alegria Reichmann, Pentin also asked her opinion of the state of things in the Church in Honduras, which is a rather troubled country.   Her answers are truly alarming.

To read click HERE

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6 Comments

  1. Amerikaner says:

    Wow, shocking! I feel so bad for her and the others that were swindled. Is Card. Rodriguez Maradiaga still one of the close Papal advisors? And if so, why?? …

  2. Defrauding widows and orphans: isn’t that one of the sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance?

    [Now that you mention it….]

  3. LeeGilbert says:

    Well, with regard to the investment advice, it is a bit hard to lay the accusation of defrauding widows and orphans against Card. Rodriguez Maradiaga, for it was not he who defrauded her, but the person whom he recommended. This is not a meaningless distinction, and I personally am very glad that the people I tried to push in the direction of buying a couple of penny stocks did not do so, for as enthused as I was, I was wrong. Any investor, even amateurs, should know that the rule of thumb in the investment world is DYDD- do your own due diligence. She did not, and the responsibility is hers alone.

    [There is always a lot we don’t know in these matters, including whether or not she did her research.]

  4. Charles E Flynn says:

    There is a cable TV show called “American Greed”, narrated by Stacy Keach. I wonder if there is a narrator suitable for “Honduran Greed”.

  5. TonyO says:

    Well, with regard to the investment advice, it is a bit hard to lay the accusation of defrauding widows and orphans against Card. Rodriguez Maradiaga, for it was not he who defrauded her, but the person whom he recommended.

    That is a very good point, LeeGilbert. Cardinal M may have absolutely nothing to answer for other than being taken in just as many others were. Maybe he lost a bunch of money to the same swindlers himself.

    But then, why in the world was a cardinal providing investment advice? Is he an expert in investments? There is a reason priests, and especially prelates, have a duty to be particularly circumspect in things like recommendations about such things as investment advice (and other matters too) which are outside their wheelhouse: unless they are truly an expert, (a) people can easily mistake the recommendation as coming from someone whose opinion ought to be trusted and followed; and (b) error on the matter can come back and put a bad light on not only the priest but also the Church. There is the inevitable suspicion that the person who offered the advice either DID know, or at least ought to have known about the problems involved. For example, the possibility that Cdl. Maradiaga was actually involved with the company whom he recommended, as in, getting his cut. Because it is so difficult to rule out such a possibility, (difficult to prove a negative), it is a good idea for people in the cardinal’s shoes to be especially cautious about being involved even to the extent of making a recommendation.

  6. dbf223 says:

    Why is a Cardinal of the Church giving anyone investment advice? I know this is Honduras and not, say, Switzerland, but if you’re the widow of a former high level government official, don’t you have more appropriate people to go to for financial advice?

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