In discussing the price of admission to the Vatican museums:
Actually, the Vatican museum prices are in line with most other major museums of the world. Also keep in mind that the museums are so huge, that the upkeep, maintainance, and constant restoration that’s needed to protect the treasures are astronomical. Further, the Vatican (as a nation) actually has very few sources of revenue, since it has no natural resources. The Vatican makes money from its museums, the sale of gasoline, collectible stamps and coins, gift shop items, and St. Peter’s Pence, which is a small donation given by people from parishes around the world. Also note that neither the Sistine Chapel or St. Peter’s itself have an admission cost.
Regarding the Vatican’s wealth:
Monaco, Luxembourg, and Lichtenstein are actually far wealthier do to their tremendous banking industries, and they are comparable in size… Granted, the Vatican is probably slightly more wealthy than Andorra, and I’ll grant that it is definitely more wealthy than San Marino. Even many tiny Caribbean nations are wealthier than the Vatican. In fact, it operates on a budget smaller than Harvard University. It simply happens to have an abnormally large amount of museums.
You also must remember that the Vatican has only been a tiny principality since around 1860. Before then, the Vatican was part of the “Papal States”, which was a fairly substantial nation, consisting of much of the middle of Italy. It was probably larger and wealthier than Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg put together. Much of what remains was inherited from this much larger, more substantial state. It could never afford to build such buildings today.
This is typical of all European nations. For example, the French government did an investigation into insuring the palace of Versailles a few years back, as it is such an important national heritage site. After various insurance agents looked at it, they determined that Versailles is uninsurable, and it’s value is $0. Why? Simply put, if anything were to happen to the palace, it would be irreplaceable. The building is so expensive, that if even a fraction of it were to be destroyed, it would be impossible to replicate without bankrupting the whole of France. Now, does this mean that France is irresponsibly wealthy? Not at all. It’s simply a part of it’s cultural heritage. ALL relatively old countries have this problem. It has nothing to do with the Vatican per se.
The splendor of the Mass helps us to engage the mystical, and elevates our thoughts to the idea that we are participating in something that is otherworldly. The Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Church subscribes to this philosophy even more so.
You’re also forgetting that the pope doesn’t really live in all that much splendor. His apartment is simple. His street dress is generally a simple white outfit. His garments for MASS are splendid, but they don’t belong to him, nor would he wear them apart from Mass. Yes, he wears a $300 pair of donated Prada shoes, but for someone that’s on his feet all day and travels all over the world, is that really an extravagence? He doesn’t even earn a salary.
And finally… regarding the splendor of church buildings:
A cathedral was actually one of the best investments a medieval town could make. Despite their great expense, a large cathedral could take hundreds of years to complete. It could become an industry unto itself. Large cathedrals employed thousands, and generated huge amounts of highly skilled jobs… jobs that were sorely lacking in the period. When the cathedral was complete, they would still need to be maintained, so many workmen would still remain. The pilgrims that would come to visit the cathedral needed to be fed, clothed, and housed, and this provided a virtual tourism industry, bringing in much needed revenue to both the church and the community. Churches were also the only medieval centers of learning, and every major university in Europe split off from a cathedral. If you had a cathedral school in your town, opportunities for trade would skyrocket, since learning about math, geography, cartography, astronomy, business, and law was all required by merchants. Further, most towns only even needed to have one large church, since there were no denominations. Everyone was Catholic, so all the effort could go into one splendid building rather than many smaller ones. Almost all medieval cities with a cathedral were FAR better off than their counterparts without them. This is why the cathedral is often called the greatest innovation of the Middle Ages.
