But how many more could they feed by selling this art? Not trying to be negative, just asking a question. What does the Church gain by keeping this art. Mother Teresa could have used the moneys gained by the sale of these items much more then the Vatican can benefit keeping them.
Does the Church own it?
God deserves to be worshiped in this way. By people that were created in his image, and thus can create great beauty that you are witnessing.
Why confine the idea to the Vatican? What about the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Why not sell off that? Or the Smithsonian. Or property the Mormon church owns. Or the Holocaust Museum in D.C. Or sell the Wailing Wall to Muslims. They got lots of money and would no doubt snap it up. Or why not sell off the works in the Prado, Louvre, Tate and Rijksmuseum? Why not sell off every work of Western civilization to the Taliban so they can destroy it and future generations won't know the glories of our civilization?
Why is the question always, always, always, always asked of the Vatican and almost never of anyone else?
Judas said the same. Word for word.
The Church doesn’t own this art and can’t sell it. In accordance with the Concordat signed with the Italian Government in 1929, the Church only has a Life Estate not a Fee Simple ownership. Thus any discussion of selling these works is pointless. The people of Italy are the owners of the residual interests.