Where does the Catholic Church get its money: donations, real estate and financial investments
Kyiv • UNN
The Catholic Church owns billions of dollars in assets, including tens of thousands of properties worldwide, earning income from donations, real estate and investments. Total profit in 2023 amounted to more than $52 million.
According to the latest financial report for 2023, published last year, the Catholic Church received more than $52 million in profit. Its assets increased by almost $8 million more.
Despite its status as a religious institution, the Church owns billions in assets, including tens of thousands of properties worldwide.
This is reported by BBC, writes UNN.
Details
According to the BBC, there is an expression that says that the value of the Catholic Church's heritage is one of the secrets of faith, a secret that this organization has kept for centuries. And it is because of this mystery that the number of guesses about the size of the Holy See's fortune only increases every year.
In particular, it is reported that from the very beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis, who died on April 21, worked to make the Vatican's accounts more transparent, taking measures that changed and optimized the Vatican's apparatus and had consequences for the Church in general.
One of them was the publication in 2021 of a public financial report of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) for the previous year, and this practice has continued ever since.
These figures were released for the first time since the creation of Apsa, the company responsible for managing real estate and investments.
According to the latest report for 2023, published last year, the Church's total profit was more than $52 million, and assets increased by almost $8 million.
The net value of assets is not disclosed, but the last known figure is almost $1 billion. This value refers to all assets managed by the Vatican Bank, with the exception of real estate, land and other assets.
It is reported that the church also receives income from the management of more than 5,000 properties, 20% of which are leased, generating an operating income of $84 million and a net profit of almost $40 million per year.
Importantly, all these values relate only to the economy of the Vatican. Against the background of the fact that the Church's finances are decentralized, and each diocese in the world manages its own budget, this means that in practice the total amount is even greater and may not be calculable.
It is almost impossible to estimate the legacy of the entire Catholic Church
In any case, experts estimate its fortune at billions of dollars. The Church, for example, is considered one of the largest landowners in the world.
According to estimates by the Paris Institute for the Study of Religions and Secularism (IREL), it owns between 71 and 81 million hectares. These include churches, schools, hospitals, monasteries, as well as rural and urban real estate.
Origin of the fortunes of the Catholic Church
According to reports, the church began to accumulate property and wealth from the 4th century, with the rise to power of Emperor Constantine (272-337 AD), who made Catholicism the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Until then, historians note, Christians lived modestly and held services in their homes, which were mostly modest, or in catacombs. This was considered natural for followers of a religion based on the teachings of a Judean who belonged to the lower social castes and preached moderation, sobriety, and actions aimed at the benefit of the less fortunate.
Through persecution, the Church was transformed into a privileged state with many assets. The simplicity of its followers, which initially distinguished them, gave way to status and symbols of wealth comparable to those of dignitaries of the empire.
While figures such as Pope Benedict IX (102-1055), who sold the papal throne, and Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, head of the Secretariat of State during the last pontificate, who was fired after spending nearly $200 million earmarked for charity to buy an apartment in London, are examples to the contrary.
Incredible wealth
Constantine and many other rulers of the Roman Empire donated palaces, estates, lands to the horizon, even thermal baths, as well as incredible amounts of gold and silver to the Church. Since then, a mechanism has been established for donations in exchange for anything, even the establishment of a Church in a certain territory.
Until the 18th century, there was the Papal Region - the territories of the Apennine Peninsula, which functioned as political and religious entities under the command of the Pope, and the Catholic hierarchy turned into a civil authority, becoming a recognized ally of the richest families in Europe.
At the moment, it can be said with certainty that the Catholic Church created its legacy through donations from believers and people interested in its political and social influence. The Vatican receives financial support from all dioceses in the world, especially from the dioceses of America and Germany, the two richest.
Another source of income is tourism.
The city houses the bodies of the city-state, dicasteries and services of the Holy See, including:
Apostolic Palace,
15 museums, art galleries,
Vatican Apostolic Library,
Vatican Radio, bank,
Astronomical Observatory,
As well as Domus Vaticanae, St. Peter's Basilica, buildings adjacent to the basilica, the Osservatore Romano newspaper, Vatican Media - Vatican Television Center, Libreria Editrice and the Apostolic Archives.
Property also outside the walls
In particular, the Vatican owns 12 buildings or extraterritorial spaces, including the main basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. Mary Major and the parish of St. Anne, as well as the offices of the dicasteries and Villa Castel Gandolfo, known as the summer residence of the Popes.
There is also the "Peter's Pence", which consists of voluntary donations from believers around the world. These donations are used for social projects and to support the activities of the Vatican, tourism and museums, which attract millions of people to certain landmarks every year.
The Vatican is also home to one of the world's largest collections of art and culture. However, these assets are considered intangible and are not subject to sale or commercial use.
Most of this heritage belongs to the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In 1929, he contributed 1.75 billion Italian lire to the treasury of the Holy See as part of the Reconciliation Agreement as compensation for the assets of the Catholic Church confiscated during the unification of Italy.
Approximately a quarter of this amount was used by Pope Pius II to form the new state of the Vatican, build the buildings of the Holy See and build housing for workers near the Vatican.
The remaining part of the received funds was placed in a number of investments using the principle of diversification as a strategy to avoid risks.
As a result, Apsa has real estate in Great Britain, France and Switzerland, as well as in Italy, the country of its main investments, especially in Rome, where 92% of real estate consists of buildings, offices, shops and restaurants.
The richest dioceses
According to media reports, the most prominent representative of this list of millionaires is Germany.
Prosperity reigns there thanks to the "Kirchensteuer" - a church tax levied directly on members of state-recognized religious communities, such as the Catholic Church.
The municipal tax corresponds to a percentage of a citizen's taxable income, which varies from 8% to 9% depending on the state.
Thus, in 2023, the Church collected approximately $7.4 billion from this tax, which is approximately 5% less than in the previous year, when $7.77 billion was collected.