Unintended Consequences

Papal conclave is one of the most watched events in the world. Reporters and news trucks stream into St. Peters Square. Satellites beam live coverage often as much as 24 hours a day. Conclave is a notoriously solemn and secluded affair with the participants being barred from any form of communication with the outside. Their phones and electronic devices are taken from them upon entry to the chapel, and once inside, the doors are quite literally chained and locked.

As a result of the secrecy, newscasters are forced to spend hours speculating on whom they think will be elected to the papacy, all the while, cameras are trained on a small chimney. That chimney announces the result of each successive vote. Black smoke – no pope. White smoke – new pope.

It is a process so steeped in tradition that it may seem as though it has been the method of papal election for millennia. It hasn’t. The smoke didn’t happen until the 1800’s. And the location was not permanently affixed to the Sistine Chapel until 1878. Pope Gregory IX underwent a somewhat different election. The election of 1227 was done by compromissum, meaning that rather than all Cardinals being present for the election, he was elected by a committee of just three. Initially those three chose Konrad von Urach, who declined the papacy. Gregory, their second choice, begrudgingly accepted.

Pope Gregory IX marked his tenure as Pope by naming many new Cardinals, Establishing the medieval inquisition and excommunicating Emperor Frederick II – twice. While the inquisition certainly left its mark on history, none of those accomplishments had anywhere near the ramifications of one of his other policy changes. The most dramatic and lasting impact of Pope Gregory IX came from a manuscript known as Vox in Rama.

Vox in Rama was a decretal sent in 1233 condemning the heresy of Luciferianism thought to be rife in Germany. It calls for crusades against heretics. It decries the practices of various luciferian sects. It identifies black cats as an incarnation of Satan, calling for a complete elimination of cats. That last part. That part about cats, people took that part very seriously. The cat population of Europe plummeted.

In October 1347 12 ships docked at the port of Messina in Sicily. People gathered on the docks were met with a horrifying scene. Most of the sailors aboard the ships were dead. Those still alive were covered in black boils oozing blood and puss. Sicilian authorities quickly ordered the fleet of death ships out of the harbor. But it was too late. The damage was done. In the quick minutes the ships were docked, the black death disease had found its way onto some rats in the harbor.

It wasn’t hard for the plague to attach to rats. They were everywhere. Rats and vermin had become so ubiquitous with life in European cities. To people of the day, it was part of life. It had always been that way. But the truth was, it hadn’t. 100 years prior rats, mice, and rodents were much less a part of life. 100 years prior, they still had cats.

Cats are of course a natural predator of rodents. And for centuries they had been keeping the rodent population at bay in Europe. But thanks to Pope Gregory IX, and his Vox in Rama, cats had been almost eliminated. I can’t speak to how effective that policy was in halting the influence of Satan. But it’s unintended consequences – the massive increase in rodents – devasted an entire continent.

Every decision we make has consequences. Some of them are easy to identify. Some are more difficult. Every decision we make also comes with unintended consequences. Those ones are oftentimes difficult to spot, until it is too late.

Some famous examples of unintended consequences include:

·      Three strikes laws increasing murder rates

·      Seat belt laws increasing the number of car accidents

·      Banning the insecticide DDT has almost certainly led to more deaths

·      Endangered species laws spawning shoot shover and shut up tactics

·      Cobra bounties in India

And yes, Pope Gregory and his cats.

Most of those examples are broad policy decisions, the likes of which you or I will never be able to dictate. I want to warn of the unintended consequences of a choice we can all make. Talking about money. In western culture discussing finances is one of the most uncouth things you can do. You are not to discuss your salary. You are not to talk about your credit card debt. Nor should you discuss budgets.

There are many more examples I could put to but let’s just take these three.

Not being able to openly discuss salary and wages has contributed to the current disparity in gender and racial pay inequality. We didn’t see that coming when we were just trying to be polite.

Not talking about credit card debt has led to thousands of divorces because of spouses hiding debt from each other out of shame. That didn’t work out too well.

Avoiding discussing household budgets has been a large factor in the financial illiteracy of our children, which helped create the massive student loan crisis. I’d bet most student borrowers wish their parents hadn’t “protected their childhood” by not discussing money with them.

Consider this my plea. It’s time to talk about money. The costs of keeping all things financial in the dark are just too high. But we simply won’t see those costs, until it is too late.