Net Worth of the Catholic Church (hell, Mormon, America, churches)
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I was asked an intriguing question this afternoon. A friend and I were making small talk today and we got on the topic of religion. Well we're both Catholic and somehow we started discussing Vatican finances. He posed an interesting question to me, "What do you believe is the net worth of the Roman Catholic Church?"
So tonight I've been thinking a bit on the subject and wanted to get some opinions. With all the real estate holdings (the Vatican alone has to be worth a mint), the paintings/sculptures, the stock, the gold, the cars/jets/helicopters, and the priceless artifacts; I'm stumped. I could barely entertain even a guess! If I did have to venture a wild guess, the best I could say would be $150 billion+ probably even on the conserative side.
What's your opinion on the matter? Was there a list ever created with all the assets, gold, stock, etc etc?
The Catholic Church is probably the richest company in the world. It's no wonder heads of church don't want people to estrange from their beliefs. One lost person means more lost $$$$
What I think is even more astounding than the net worth of the Catholic Church is..........
the fact that the Catholic church gives more to the poor and needy than any other institution, charity, church, etc in the entire US........only second to the Federal Government
So true.... our art collection and cathedrals all over the world are awesome and inspiring, an appreciation of beauty and all that is good.
This information was published 10 years ago, and the figures are probably even more startling today.
"The Vatican has large investments with the Rothschilds of Britain, France and America, with the Hambros Bank, with the Credit Suisse in London and Zurich. In the United States it has large investments with the Morgan Bank, the Chase-Manhattan Bank, the First National Bank of New York, the Bankers Trust Company, and others. The Vatican has billions of shares in the most powerful international corporations such as Gulf Oil, Shell, General Motors, Bethlehem Steel, General Electric, International Business Machines, T.W.A., etc. At a conservative estimate, these amount to more than 500 million dollars in the U.S.A. alone.
"In a statement published in connection with a bond prospectus, the Boston archdiocese listed its assets at Six Hundred and Thirty-five Million ($635,891,004), which is 9.9 times its liabilities. This leaves a net worth of Five Hundred and Seventy-one million dollars ($571,704,953). It is not difficult to discover the truly astonishing wealth of the church, once we add the riches of the twenty-eight archdioceses and 122 dioceses of the U.S.A., some of which are even wealthier than that of Boston.
What I think is even more astounding than the net worth of the Catholic Church is..........
the fact that the Catholic church gives more to the poor and needy than any other institution, charity, church, etc in the entire US........only second to the Federal Government
So true.... our art collection and cathedrals all over the world are awesome and inspiring, an appreciatio of beauty and all that is good.
yes, but the church is NOT TAXED and can afford to give $$$ to the poor and even more. It was reported in the LA Times today that the church(LA diocese) is settling to give $600M to victims of clergy sexual abuse. Mahony pitifully told his flock that they would be selling their high rise admin bldg as well as
"50" non-essential properties". Considering the price of Los Angeles real estate, that represents a significant chunk of change. Mahony does not gain fans by funding pro-illegal immigrant demonstrations. In fact, i'd like to see how much of the charity that the church gives actually goes to american citizens.
Jazz....where are you getting all those cute little symbols you've been using? Can we go "beyond" the little faces on the right side of our posts?....Fill me in
Net worth?
I'm not sure exactly... but it could be "priceless".
One thing that is certain though is that the Clergy doesn't usually get paid very much.
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. I could barely entertain even a guess! If I did have to venture a wild guess, the best I could say would be $150 billion+ probably even on the conserative side.
