Papal States

How Papal States became Vatican City

~ admin ~ Leave a comment

Sartre – When a church becomes a secular state with a government or even an army, one needs to ask if the organized religion is more devoted to a vaticanpolitical entity, than a spiritual belief. A contemporary example could be the Iranian Mullahs, but for the definitive historic paradigm has been the Catholic Church. Catholic translates into universal. Notwithstanding, the crucial question that is traditionally avoided seeks to ask if the quid essential Christendom Church has operated more as an ingrained assemblage than a shepherd for saving souls.

In comparison to other religions, the Italian Stati Pontifici transacted in direct land acquisitions of visible temporal governmental administration. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, The Papal States provides a concise account of the development of Church political power.

“The Republic of St. Peter, or the Papal States, emerged in the mid-8th century as part of a broader political reconfiguration. Popes Gregory II (715–731) and Gregory III (731–741) turned away from the Byzantine Empire because of increased imperial taxation, the emperor’s policy of iconoclasm (prohibition of the veneration of religious images), and Constantinople’s failure to protect Rome adequately. Continue reading →

Wealth Of Roman Catholic Church Impossible To Calculate

~ admin ~ 1 Comment

NationalPost  March 8 2013

Pope Francis advocates that rich people give away their money to decrease the imbalance between “have” and “have-not” – raising the standard of living for the majority of earth’s inhabitants. This most noble sentiment would be considerably enhanced if the Pope began by divesting the Most Holy Roman Catholic church of its holdings to ease the burdens of the poor. After all, the best example that can be set is the one you set yourself, Pope Francis. ~G

A painting by artist Michel Angelo Pacetti shows a parade of French troops on St. Peter' Square at the Vatican displayed during an exhibition of papal portraits from the Renaissance to Pope John Paul II in Rome in 2004. The Roman Catholic Church's real estate and art have not been properly evaluated, since the church would never sell them.
A painting by artist Michel Angelo Pacetti shows a parade of French troops on St. Peter’ Square at the Vatican displayed during an exhibition of papal portraits from the Renaissance to Pope John Paul II in Rome in 2004. The Roman Catholic Church’s real estate and art have not been properly evaluated, since the church would never sell them.

It is impossible to calculate the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church. In truth, the church itself likely could not answer that question, even if it wished to.

Its investments and spending are kept secret. Its real estate and art have not been properly evaluated, since the church would never sell them.

There is no doubt, however, that between the church’s priceless art, land, gold and investments across the globe, it is one of the wealthiest institutions on Earth.

Since 313 A.D., when Catholicism became the official religion of the Roman Empire, its power has been in near-constant growth.

The church was able to acquire land, most notably the Papal States surrounding Rome, convert pagan temples and claim relics for itself. Over 300 years, it became one of Europe’s largest landowners.

For the next thousand years, tithes and tributes flowed in from all over Europe. Non-Christians and even fellow Christians were killed and their property confiscated. For example, the Fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople in the early 13th century brought it gold, money and jewels.

But by the beginning of the 20th century, the church had faced several hundred years of turbulence. Protestantism had claimed many of its members. The French Revolution at the end of the 18th century outlawed the church and though Napoleon allowed it to return, his relationship with various popes was stormy. Continue reading →