All my life I have endured Protestant criticism of the opulence of the Vatican. However, some of these megachurches have a cash flow larger than the Vatican.
That is BS. The Vatican has enough Gold to buy up all the assets of every Protestant church in America. That gold was stolen from the Peruvians and Bolivians and Mexicans in the name of the Catholic Church and thousands upon thousands of Native South Americans died in the process. The Gold that decorates the Vatican was purchased with the blood of the indigenous peoples of Central and South America. I don't think any protestant minister ever got rich by killing thousands of people and stealing their gold.
The opulence of the Vatican was purchased in blood. The opulence of today's megachurches was purchased with love offerings.