![]() Sue misses the connection she felt with Carlos as newlyweds. Even when they manage a date night, conversation tends to revolve around the kids. The fact that even the Vatican is part of the wave of globalization is rather fascinating.This document was developed as a print resource by the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 2011.įor Sue and Carlos, married for eight years, life is hectic as they try to balance his full-time job, her part-time job, and the needs of three children. The currency fluctuation issue is more interesting, however. Further, it’s difficult to be overly sympathetic to whatever financial discomfort having to pay for its decades-long coverup of child rape among its priesthood is causing the church. Given the lack of outside auditors and the absurdity of not counting the enormously valuable material possessions in the Vatican’s collection, I’m more than dubious of claims of poverty. The total payout to victims of clergy sex abuse in the United States has now climbed to $840 million since 1950, with three dioceses – Spokane, Wash. The sex abuse crisis has also taken a heavy financial toll on the Church in the United States and Ireland. But the Vatican has also greatly expanded its diplomatic activity during John Paul’s activist papacy and the Vatican now maintains relations with 174 states around the world – a costly enterprise. Vatican financial experts blame heavy personnel costs – 2,674 people work in Holy See offices, more than half of them lay people. It listed 2003 revenues at about 203.6 million euros and expenditures of 213.2 million euros for a deficit of 9.6 million euros, or $11.8 million at the exchange rate at that time. Still, its most recent financial statement, issued in July for fiscal year 2003, reported a deficit for the third consecutive year. The Vatican went through 23 money-losing years until 1993, but the situation improved dramatically after a revised code of church law made clear that dioceses around the world should assist the Vatican. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel are priceless, listed at a symbolic 1 euro. In a rare disclosure last July, a Vatican accountant said the net patrimony, or the Vatican’s real estate holdings, are assessed at a relatively modest $908 million and that such properties as St. Vatican officials bristle at what John Paul once called “the myth” that the Holy See is immensely wealthy. All the rich guys in the Third World also give in dollars.” ![]() “We’re not only talking about money coming from the United States. “The dollar has really hurt them,” said the Rev. The College of Cardinals running the church until a new pope is elected said in their daily report Tuesday that Sebastiani briefed them on the 2004 statement and several details of the 2005 budget, but gave no details. “Our financial statement could not help but reflect all of this,” said Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani. In presenting the latest accounting, the chief of the Holy See’s economic affairs office cited Europe’s sluggish economic recovery, poor investment climate and the rising strength of the euro against the dollar. But in the last years of his papacy the Holy See was back in the red. Like the chief executive of a worldwide corporation, John Paul II demanded financial accountability and promised greater transparency after years of secrecy and even scandal. The next pope will not only have to care for the souls of his 1.1 billion-member flock worldwide, but also the church’s accounts, hit by the falling dollar, sex abuse settlements and a growing diplomatic mission. New pope to face enormous financial issues Despite its enormous riches, the Roman Catholic church is in financial crisis, according to an AP report.
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