[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

All I will say is this. If you do not think that within the Vatican there are treasures worth HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of Millions of dollars you need to buy a clue....

And all I will say is this.

There are 1 billion Catholics in the world.

The assets of the Vatican are estimated at $1 billion.

Harvard's endowment is $32 billion.

The Vatican's administrative staff is smaller than that of the University of Notre Dame.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Yep. Thanks for pointing this out. I have yet to see any anti-Catholics recognize these simple facts, and how preposterous the whole “Vatican wealth” line of attack is.

[ansel12]

The assets of the Vatican are estimated at $1 billion.

How did they come up with that figure, and what is the total estimated wealth of the Catholic church? What did they estimate the Sistine Chapel art at, and who is the they that came up with a figure that so many sources and economists dispute and that strikes many people as laughable?

[ansel12]

The assets of the Vatican are estimated at $1 billion.

Another question, would a prudent billionaire be eager or hesitant to purchase the total assets of the Vatican for 1 billion dollars thinking purely of financial investment?

[driftdiver]

The monetary value of the Vatican and Catholic Churches around the world are FAR in excess of $1 billion.

Just the real estate of the Vatican is worth a $1 billion. Some articles put the Vaticans value at $10-$15 billion.