NOTE: you will see this thread is NOT an insult to member of the Roman Catholic Church - but a factual look at it's enormous wealth and holdings.
We decided to look at the Catholic Church because with 1.36 billion members around the world, Catholics make up the biggest denomination in the biggest religious group on the planet. It’s also one of the wealthiest.
The church has vast assets, including billions in real estate and some priceless art, not to mention the Vatican Bank.
But its finances are largely secret. Tallying that immense wealth is pretty much impossible, according to experts.
But once a dollar is dropped in that basket, where does it go? How are weekly cash contributions that can amount to tens of thousands of dollars accounted for? Where does the money go when a diocese sells a church property for tens of millions of dollars?
And what happens when hundreds of millions of dollars are turned over to officials at the highest ranks, no questions asked, for their discretionary use? The Roman Catholic Church is the largest organization in the world.
The Vatican has never revealed its net worth,
“In other words, the Archdiocese of New York will have so many churches, so many schools, so many hospitals, it owns so much real estate,” Berry said. “But very few of the dioceses issue financial statements that would pass muster with a CPA.”
In Australia for an example:
Figures extrapolated from a huge volume of Victorian council valuation data show the church has more than $30 billion in property and other assets, Australia wide.
Based on these figures, the church is clearly the largest non-government property owner, by value, in the state, and close to the largest in Australia, rivalling giant Westfield, with its vast network of shopping centres and other assets.
Trinity Church alone has a portfolio worth $6 billion, The New York Times reported in 2019. That’s roughly $7 billion in 2023 dollars for the historic New York church.
The New York Times noted
the church is a developer, with a real estate arm that “controls ground leases and office space rentals in the buildings it owns.”
They own a for profit bank:
Financial statements from 2021 show that the Institute for the Works of Religion, also known as the Vatican Bank, earned a net profit of 18.1 million euros. And last year, the Vatican’s former finance minister, Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, spoke with the Vatican News about the Holy See’s financial statements for 2021, revealing that
it had 3.9 billion euros in total assets. Adjusted for 2023 dollars, that’s almost $5 billion.
Then there is grossly under valued artwork:
The Vatican houses tens of thousands of pieces of art in its 26 museums, including the Sistine Chapel, which contains works from some of the most renowned artists in history.
There’s Raphael’s fresco “The School of Athens” and Michelangelo’s fresco “The Creation of Adam.” In 2004, a Vatican accountant said that St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel were priceless and “listed at a symbolic 1 euro” (or $1.07).
Of course there is real estate:
“That includes embassies, churches, cathedrals, monastery schools and convents,” Posner said.
And some of that real estate is very valuable. Take St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, for example. Just imagine how much a developer would value that land, which is in the heart of Fifth Avenue, he said.
“So we’re talking billions and billions of dollars in terms of real estate,” Posner noted.
The next time you hear someone bring up wealthy mega churches - the biggest mega church, the church that has more money than any other to the factor of 1,000 times is right outside most peoples doors.
