Posted on 05/08/2025 1:48:28 PM PDT by DallasBiff
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church does not get paid what many consider a traditional salary. Instead, the Vatican provides for the pontiff's needs, from housing, food, transportation and other expenses in the form of stipends and allowances.
The Vatican, referred to as "the world's smallest country," is sustained by "an economy that relies on a combination of donations, private enterprises, and investments to generate revenue," according to Investopedia.
Pope Francis declined any sort of salary when he took office in 2013, The Economic Times reported back in February, adding that the pontiff at the time had a net worth of "around $16 million, which includes various assets provided to him as the pope."
The Vatican's financial situation has been in peril for years, with its annual operating deficit growing to over $90 million in 2023, according to reports. In November, Pope Francis warned that the Vatican's pension fund — which provides pensions to employees of the Holy See and Vatican City State — has been facing a "severe prospective imbalance" that "tends to grow over time in the absence of interventions," according to the Vatican News.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Yes that’s why they selected another obama!
New series coming this Fall on NBC: “Chicago Pope”
Preserving Vatican City — all the art and buildings thereof — alone is worth every penny and every generation’s commitment until Jesus comes back!
Joel Osteen has also been accused of keeping his church doors shut during natural disasters in the Houston area etc…But I’ve also heard the opposite. That behind the scenes he is very generous with his money for good causes.
I was a bit concerned by Obama’s glowing tweet today. It makes me wonder if he had a say…
The Economic Times reported back in February, adding that the pontiff at the time had a net worth of “around $16 million, which includes various assets provided to him as the pope.” Sounds like a good gig. I wonder how I can get the job? I’m even Catholic, I think.
Of which there are none
Priests do not take a vow of poverty. Only nuns.
Looks like you have to swim to get to the pool
Yeah, criticizing another religion for its size when you're thousands of times bigger does seem a tad hypocritical, does it not?
Any way here is a picture of Joel Osteen’s house.
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There’s something creepy about that place.
Monk priests and religious priests take vows of poverty
Those “assets” are used to pay for his official trips and provide support for his ministry. He has no actual salary and no real net worth. The monies available are for the office of papacy and not for personal consumption. He retained none of it at his death.
Typically, any income derived from things like book sales passes either to charity or into the church at a pope’s passing.
“At least throughout history the Catholic Church has beautified and elevated the architecture and aesthetics of the cities they inhabit.”
The church did a lot more than build monster cathedrals with all those tithes. It bought farmland and had people who had not a lot to piss in or a window to throw it out work the land and keep a certain amount for themselves. This resulted in a sort of middle class that could live decently and increase their estate if they worked hard and were careful. Beyond that the church had some hundred and fifty feast days that gave workers time off from their labors.
Well, I do know someone who thinks he’s wonderful but personally I’m always skeptical of these tv preachers.
They do pretty well in the money game. I always wonder if that’s the real story. Maybe I’m wrong, I don’t know the guy personally.
But i did know someone who wasa very charismatic guy. Not religious, at all, In fact smoked grass since the fifties, occasional party drugs, cocaine like that. Sort of a James Coburn kind of person, sarcastically witty. Likeable.
Somehow or other, I think he did a job for the guy, (he was a furniture refinisher in LA, considered a ‘master finisher’, anyway he met one of these traveling circuit preachers. A very successful one. He asked him to become one of the preachers on the circuit.
So he said back to him, in surprise, ‘Me? I don’t even go to church. I’m not religious, at all’!?
The preacher told him that didn’t matter. A lot of them doing it weren’t, and the money was fabulous.The big bucks.
He didn’t go for it.
None of record, anyhow.
Catholics do not tithe. They make free will donations or not. I would be very happy if all of the artworks that are in storage were sold little by little and the proceeds used for charitable purposes, or even for pensions for the people who have worked in the Vatican or retired priests and sisters around the world.
I have been to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Both are incredibly beautiful, but I don’t see the reason to keep all the artworks that are in storage because there is no room to display them.
Yes, the Pope will be paying globalists through the IRS.
Osteen isn’t a Christian pastor. Nothing he says or does would lead me to believe that.
I don’t disagree. I do think there are some good ones left, but here, I’m looking into the home churches people are running on farms.
I spent a month in Italy, visiting friends who live in a suburb of Rome. Very smart couple, she has two PhDs and speaks English and Chinese too. He’s an architect. They absolutely detest the Catholic Church, because they spent millions building St. Peter’s Cathedral when people were starving in the streets.
I did visit the church and the terrific art gallery near it. Amazing paintings, and the church was beautiful but did not feel holy. Downstairs, however, they had tombs of former popes. One or two of them radiated holiness. Friend of mine who went at a different time had the same experience.
I grew up Catholic, went to Catholic schools and university. I was told day after day that I was going to hell for that, or God would punish me for that. So I thought God was a mean old man in the sky who hated me.
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