September 11 2015

His Holiness Pope Francesco
The Vatican
Vatican.com/contact

Holy Father,

It seems that in the coming weeks you will be visited by our premier dr. Ben Whiteman and Monseignor Luigi Antonio Secco the bishop of our lovely island Curacao.
The reason for this impromptu visit is a mystery for all of us for there is very little information available as to the purpose of this visit and what we, as an island, can expect to get out of this.
We are a small island of merely 174 square miles, with only 150.000 inhabitants of which 80% is Catholic.
So, with such a strong Catholic presence, of course the school system is mostly Catholic and in hands of a Catholic school board.
We also have, what used to be the fifth largest refinery in the world, but due to mismanagement and poor maintenance it became the worst polluter in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Reports made our own government and the Dutch government prove this, claiming that it is responsible for 18 premature deaths per year due to air pollution and millions of dollars of health care cost.
The refinery, PDVSA, belonging to the Venezuelan regime, has for years neglected all rules and regulations regarding pollution of the air, water and land and denying all accusations, while all reports made and samples taken by our own government tell a different story.
Now, since your Holiness took such a strong position on air pollution and the environment, it would be akward in the eyes of the population here to receive our prime minister, who publicly said that he would not take any action against the refinery because his father used to work there and because of that, he could become a doctor and would never close the refinery down
As a doctor he fails to follow the oath of Hypocritas he took when he graduated and knowingly accepting the death of 18 people a year without taking any action as a government or as a physician.
Same goes for Monseignor Secco, our beloved bishop, who will accept handouts from the refinery in the form of upgrading of churches and allowing the public relations officer of the refinery to sit on the Catholic School Board to cover the complains of the schools downwind of the refinery, that often have to send the students home because of the foul air and smoke of the refinery.
As long as the refinery is contributing handsomely to the bisshop’s proyects you will not hear the bishop or the Catholic School Board complain about the sick students or air pollution.
Now that you have taken such a strong stand against pollution, I urge you to take a decision on the position of the Catholic church here in Curacao against the refinery and instruct bishop Secco to do the same and stop turning the other cheek and play the ignorant, for there are approximately 60.000 people living downwind from the refinery that will turn their backs to the Catholic church when they see their loved ones with breathing difficulties while bishop Secco is accepting “gifts” from the refinery.
If you decide to support the prime minister and bishop Secco it will contradict your stand on pollution in the world and will ruin your credibility, mine anyways.
Hoping you will reflect on this and hoping you will take the right decision, for you have proven in the past to be strong minded in spite of public opninion dictating otherwise, I remain,

with all respect,
Arthur Donker