How to answer a Non Catholic's question about pope?

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iliveloveChrist

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Countless times, I’ve heard non-Catholics say to me ‘How can the pope live such a lavish lifestyle, while there are millions of people dying of hunger around the world?’ How do I respond to that? Most of the time, I give them the example of those big mega churches. They may not be as ornate as our churches, but they do have expensive sound systems, and not only those mega churches but also smaller churches have expensive sound systems. There is an Assembly of God church in my area that is sort of like a mega church. It has to areas of worship that can easily sit 2,000 one is for their youth worship service and the other is for regular worship, they have a daycare, a gym, a food court, AND a bookstore all in one building! My personal opinion, is why wouldn’t I want the head of the true church to live well? What is a clear cut answer that I can give to them? Thanks!🤷
 
Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, John Hagee, Jimmy Swaggart, Fred Price, Robert Tilton, Paul and Jan Crouch, Joyce Meyer.

Need I continue?
 
A lavish lifestyle? I’m not sure that’s even true. He is surrounded by the treasures of the church. By virtue of his office he owns some objects that have become priceless because of their historical value. That doesn’t equal lavish. Most of the value of the paintings, statues, books, &c. comes from the fact that they were created for the church or the pope centuries ago. They weren’t priceless then. Valuable, certainly, but I’m not certain that living a life of celibacy is exactly lavish. And poor Pope Benedict doesn’t even think he should bring a cat to the papal apartments, despite the fact that he is a cat person. That is a great sacrifice, I’m sure.

The long and short of it is that the pope isn’t rich; the church owns valuable properties, partly because of the sacrifice of ordinary Catholics, and partly because of the time when the Vatican was a much bigger country and had taxes and so forth. To think of the pope as living like most of the wealthy men in the secular world is laughable.
 
iliveloveChrist said:
Countless times, I’ve heard non-Catholics say to me ‘How can the pope live such a lavish lifestyle, while there are millions of people dying of hunger around the world?’ How do I respond to that?
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Well, I think they would first have to prove the Pope actually lives a lavish lifestyle before you are called to defend it. Since he doesn’t, they can’t, and you have nothing to respond to or defend.
 
The things that he wears are provided by the church.

How much money does he even make? None id assume, right?

Where does he go when hes done being Pope?
 
What lavish lifestyle? They’re just assuming bad things about the papacy because it suits their theology.

Reports were when Benedict became pope that the papal apartments had bad wiring, bad pipes, leaky roofs, a broken heater and outdated kitchen appliances.

Has anybody ever complained about how the Archbishop of Canterbury lives?

These two words will end 90% of attacks on the Church: “Prove it.”
 
Ask what they mean by “lavish.”

Many things were gifted to previous popes- or are gifted today. Much is inherited. etc.
 
snarflemike said:
These two words will end 90% of attacks on the Church: “Prove it.”
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This is very true! Most people who try to attack the church are the same ones that have a lot of misconceptions about it and only go by what others say!
 
snarflemike said:
What lavish lifestyle? They’re just assuming bad things about the papacy because it suits their theology.

Reports were when Benedict became pope that the papal apartments had bad wiring, bad pipes, leaky roofs, a broken heater and outdated kitchen appliances.

Has anybody ever complained about how the Archbishop of Canterbury lives?
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👍 No, but how he lives might offend me… the Anglicans did steal quite a lot of our property and churches, smashed our monasteries and later our statues and stained glass, and worse when one looks at what they did in Ireland… but that, I suppose is not the point.
 
FrancisB said:
👍 No, but how he lives might offend me… the Anglicans did steal quite a lot of our property and churches, smashed our monasteries and later our statues and stained glass, and worse when one looks at what they did in Ireland… but that, I suppose is not the point.
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Not to worry, someday those churches will be Catholic again. Anglicanism can’t survive. Let’s just hope they don’t become mosques.
 
snarflemike said:
Not to worry, someday those churches will be Catholic again. Anglicanism can’t survive. Let’s just hope they don’t become mosques.
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If Europe has her way, you’ll be hearing the Muslim call to prayer echoing from Westminster Abbey in another 50 years. God help us!:(:(😦
 
just_came_back said:
If Europe has her way, you’ll be hearing the Muslim call to prayer echoing from Westminster Abbey in another 50 years. God help us!:(:(😦
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Right, but Islam isn’t the truth so it wont survive in the end. It’ll cease to exist when Jesus comes back.
 
just_came_back said:
AMEN!!!
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We have to put up with it now, just like we have to put up with a bunch of other false religions, but in the end, they wont be here anymore so just have patience. Jesus will get rid of them for us, dont worry. Remember, i doubt he wants them here either.
 
I read somewhere that a defense for the Church’s “wealth” lies, in fact, in its historicity. Say that the Vatican sold every single one of its belongings. This would create a one-time fiscal contribution to the state of the world. Ten years from now, that financial contribution wouldn’t be identifiable any longer (poverty would return to its normal level, etc.) – the Vatican’s role lies not in temporal, material support of the world, but spiritual, and its historical artifacts and belongings, etc., only further enable and verify that support.
 
iliveloveChrist said:
Countless times, I’ve heard non-Catholics say to me ‘How can the pope live such a lavish lifestyle, while there are millions of people dying of hunger around the world?’ How do I respond to that? Most of the time, I give them the example of those big mega churches. They may not be as ornate as our churches, but they do have expensive sound systems, and not only those mega churches but also smaller churches have expensive sound systems. There is an Assembly of God church in my area that is sort of like a mega church. It has to areas of worship that can easily sit 2,000 one is for their youth worship service and the other is for regular worship, they have a daycare, a gym, a food court, AND a bookstore all in one building! My personal opinion, is why wouldn’t I want the head of the true church to live well? What is a clear cut answer that I can give to them? Thanks!🤷
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What alot of these people don’t realize is that the Pope lives in an apartment within Vatican City. He has a few rooms, and that is it.

There was a documentary on the History Channel or one of those, that showed some of the rooms within the Papal apartment, and it wasn’t as lavish as one might think.

What alot of these protesters are really getting at is why doesn’t the Church sell the artwork, etc. and give that money to the poor.

That is a wonderful idea in theory, but it is not practical at all.

If the Church sold all of those artifacts, and gave the money to the poor, what happens when that money is all gone? Right back to square one.

Instead, the Church does outreaches and ministries. Building schools, hospitals, etc. to help people become self sufficient.

Remember the old saying…“Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.” ?
 
I have heard those arguments before, and reminds me of Judas Iscariot. They seem on the surface noble, but in reality they are not. Realize it is an argument to disband the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

[BIBLEDRB]John 12:3-8[/BIBLEDRB]
 
The Pope is rich???

The man has to work every day of the year, and he’s 85 years old. He doesn’t have a retirement plan because he will probably die doing his job.
 
PumpkinSeed said:
The things that he wears are provided by the church.

How much money does he even make? None id assume, right?

Where does he go when hes done being Pope?
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To Heaven. If you’re Pope you’re Pope until the Lord calls you home.
 
Since we all live in the luxuries of having a toilet(I’m assuming), we should all start smashing them because a lot of people don’t have that luxury.
Tell them that.
 
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