Yet, none of that stuff is owned by the Pope. It is not there property, they can’t sell it, or use the money to buy cars and summer homes and winter homes, they can’t own anything in the Vatican. None of the artwork and Churches done by countless Catholics down thru the centuries is the personal property of anyone.
Your comparison is BS
WRONG! It all belongs to “The Catholic Church”. It certainly can be sold, and should be, to feed the poor and advance the gospel. The material wealth of the Catholic Church or any church with excessive wealth and property, is an abomination.
The church books should read
Collected $ XXX
Spent $ XXX
Net profit $ 0
Doesn’t matter. The Pope rules the Vatican and runs the Catholic Church. No religious leader in the world commands such power. He even has the Swiss Guards, overseas a huge bank, has newspapers, radio stations, his own country. Not to mention a huge seaside retreat. Saying the Pope doesn’t own the Vatican is like saying the Queen doesn’t own Buckingham Palace or that Louis XIV didn’t own Versailles. BTW-—I have no issue with any of this. It’s fine with me. And I have no problem with mega-Protestant churches either. I have no problem with wealth and riches. I DO have a problem only when GOVERNMENT lays claim to other people’s wealth and riches.