Vatican wealth and church's stance on poverty

[stringbeanduck]

Hello everyone. I have another assignment to find the answer this question. The church clergy take a vow of poverty when they become priests, nuns, bishops, cardinals, pope… Right? Given the church’s stance on poverty why does the Vatican have a lot of wealth? Or does it not have a lot of wealth? Do they keep a lot of it? Similar questions are often asked by non Catholics concerning the wealth in the Vatican and it would help know where the church stands on it.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Hello everyone. I have another assignment to find the answer this question. The church clergy take a vow of poverty when they become priests, nuns, bishops, cardinals, pope… Right? Given the church’s stance on poverty why does the Vatican have a lot of wealth? Or does it not have a lot of wealth? Do they keep a lot of it? Similar questions are often asked by non Catholics concerning the wealth in the Vatican and it would help know where the church stands on it.

Clergy do not take a vow of poverty. (Religious – e.g., Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, etc. take vows of poverty. But most priests are diocesan priests and do not take such a vow.)

“Why does the Vatican have a lot of wealth?” Does it really?

John Allen has addressed this issue. Here is one excerpt source]:

• The myth of Vatican wealth. “At the Vatican, everything is for sale, in the popular mind,” Allen said. In reality, the Vatican’s annual operating budget is about $260 million. Allen contrasted that to Harvard University, which has an annual operating budget of $1.3 billion.

“ (Harvard) could run five Vaticans every year and still have pocket change left over for an endowed chair,” Allen said, equating the Vatican’s patrimony - all the assets it could sell - to that of a medium-sized Catholic university. Its total patrimony is $770 million. The University of Notre Dame’s endowment is four and a half times greater, he said.

Allen noted that while people often assume a significant monetary value attached to the artwork the Vatican holds, it is not for sale.

“ The Holy See’s point of view is that the artwork is part of the patrimony of humanity,” Allen said. It is listed as having a cash value of one euro.

 

[stringbeanduck]

I didn’t know that before; interesting. Thanks for your imput.

 

[Brendan]

One more thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the art work is no longer owned by the Vatican, but by a seperate organization, The Vatican Museum.

This has a similar relation to the Vatican state as the Smithsonian does with the US Federal Government.

Yes, it does one architecural art, such as St. Peter’s Basilica. But who exactly would it sell it to, developers?

This would be pretty much the equivalent of the US Government selling Mt. Rushmore to corporate sponsors. Sure, it could fund some poverty programs by selling Bill Gates the rights to put his face up their too. But is that really in the best, long term interests of the nation?

The Church faces similar choices as well in the managment of the architectural art that it holds.

 

[YADA]

I didn’t know that before; interesting. Thanks for your imput.

SuscipeMeDomine Great post …

StringBean also consider this … if the vatican did decide to sell al of the art master pieces and vatican property … consider what that would entail …

Who in this world could/would step up to purchase them? … Bill Gates, George Soros, Warren Buffett … what would private ownership do, lock away from public view this heritage of Art? FOR Public purchase only? How about - Arab States [look at what they did to the Budha’s?] … the Russians? … Even France or Great Brittian … they would have to place them in a place where they would pay for themselves …

the average bloke would probably never have the opportunity to view them [and yes, I know you haveto purchase tickets for the Vatican Museums but much is in free public viewing and the Vatican is not for profit] … and even if he could, now they might be scattered around the world …

When sold - then what … the money could be spent on food and other anti-poverty concerns … even if all of it got to the needy people [and was not stolen or lost - Thugs, Dictators, Black Market] in a short time [very short time IMHO] poverty would be back in the forefront of humanities problems …

This is not to mention that the faithful [over hundreds of years] have contributed to create the “Vatican” …

What if you are told that your church and all it contains should be placed upon the auction block … afterall you can meet together in your homes/garage/yards and celebrate the mass - you could feed the poor in your community withthe assets tied up in your parish church and school [plus you do not need to waste resources on a school - send the kids to public school] you should feed the poor instead …

How would you respond to seeing your church on the auction block, the statues carted off, the altar bought by someone for a dining room or the stainglass windows appearing in the new subdivision at the edge of town? …

 

[Mark77]

Soon it will be taken to pay the attorneys who are now suing the Vatican for the abuse cases.

“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” Mt 16:18.

While preserving the beautiful artwork as a testimony to the Glory of God and our family heritage as shown through the Communion of Saints is wonderful, it is not necessary.

Jesus is our Treasure, Perfect, Priceless and Eternal in His Love for all.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

Mark

 

[rpp]

One thing to keep in mind about the Church’s “wealth” is that the VAST majority of this “wealth” is in property and art. These are not mere non-liquid assets, the Church is actually charged with protecting and preserving them. Do we really want to go tearing down 200, or 1200, year old churches and monasteries because we could make a killing in the real-estate market?

The reality is that the Catholic Church is the largest non-governmental source of emergency aid, medical, educational, housing and food aid and protecting at risk people in the world with billions spent annually. Furthermore, because of the nature of the Church, the clergy and religious, and a volunteer, overhead costs are generally lower than nearly any other organization in the world. The difference is that there is no single entity that does all this. Rather you have organizations like Catholic Charities, Birthright (not strictly Catholic), Catholic Relief Services, Caritas International, various religious orders and societies and dozens of other lay organizations in countries and regions throught the entire world.