Oh no…
Anyway,
how was your workday?
Can all the nations they stole artifacts and trinkets from get them back when they declare bankruptcy? /s
Except they have billions in stolen art and could liquidate it at any point. If not trillions, actually.
Nobody knows exactly what Vatican has but Porphyry Basin in the Vatican Museum is estimated to be worth 2$ billion alone (it was commissioned by Emperor Nero).
Vatican could literally end the world hunger with their treasure hoard.
Why would they want to end world hunger? What could motivate them to do so?
Hmm…
I am an agnostic so my opinion might not be worth anything to Christians (or Catholics specifically), but I don’t really see the point in organized church structures. If you believe in God, support his ideals, why do you need to go to church anyway, or at least why would you want your local church support some big hierarchy (often with controversial opinions or actions) for your money?
It’s been a long while since I was involved in a church, but my recollection of the Bible isn’t able to reference anything that implies there is a need for the hierarchy associated with the Catholic Church, or similar. It kind of says you can have a personal relationship with God, and I don’t recall anything about Mary being special in any way aside from giving birth to the so called Messiah.
Same reason people go to comicons or music concerts or protests. People just want to be with others who believe in and like the same things as they do. It’s a pretty simple and basic human behavior.
“Faith without works is dead.”
Nice
Ummmm… Fuck them?
Sell your fucking chair, you clown.
Pope Francis got rid of that already, some 10 years ago.
I haven’t seen him on that chair since, but I’m sure it’s somewhere collecting dust.
Not sitting on it == getting rid of it
Gods plan
Thoughts and prayers!
Aww geez, our 1500 year old grift isn’t working as well as it used to, sad!
Good
What little concessions they made to progressives was far too little too late while former popes sided with child abusers and rapists.
Martin Luther has entered the chat
The joke is that Francis was still too far left for the big money Opus Dei Catholics in The United States and Europe.
They weren’t friendly enough to the rapists. That’s why the donations are drying up
Or maybe it’s because people can’t afford to donate money when they can barely afford rent and groceries
The Catholic Church isn’t getting the bulk of its money from lay voters. Their influence is rooted in the large, wealthy communities of the old money aristocracy and newer money financial sectors. Big donations have historically granted members an elevated role in the civilian side of the church. And churches are highly influential in promoting business relationships and political careers.
Of late, the American branch of the Catholic Church - historically a huge contributor to the Vatican directly and to foreign missions internationally - has cultivated a very far-right orientation within its political wing. You can see that in the conversion of current VP-elect JD Vance to Catholicism back in 2019. This, along with far-right catholic politicians like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Jim Risch having increasing influence over US foreign policy. And the elevation of a slew of Catholic SCOTUS judges - Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett - five of the last eight seated over twenty years.
These political leaders and the big financial interests that back them (US Bancorp, Bank of America, and Fidelity Investments most notably) are all historical Catholic Church mega-donors. The Catholic Church runs some of the biggest charities in the US (and the world). And diversion of funds from “Peter’s Pence” (donations directly to the Vatican) to regional church organizations administered by Americans with loyalty to their right-wing local parties, is what’s cutting into the available funds.
Report: Catholic charitable giving (and the church) are moving to the Southwest, July 2023
Last year, just under half of all Fidelity Charitable donors (48 percent) directed grants to religious houses of worship, the report found, down two points from three years earlier. A closer examination of the report reveals which nonprofits receive support, and Catholic organizations, which include dioceses as well as human services organizations with church ties, continue to rank among the top beneficiaries of support in many U.S. cities.
…
According to the National Philanthropic Trust, nearly $46 billion was dispersed from donor-advised funds in the United States in 2021. That is a massive increase from just nine years earlier, when about $8.5 billion was given to charities from these funds.
The Catholic organizations - particularly in the US - are not running out of cash. The Vatican is running out of cash.
Time to start selling Indulgences again.
Just pray. If your God is the creator of the universe, it’s pretty likely he can handle the situation once you let him know.
Dont forget the thoughts.
