What is the total dollar amount of all assets and income under the
control of the Catholic church?  I would like "assets" to include all
cash holdings, investments, property, valuable possessions, etc.  I
would like "income" to include the yearly income of the Catholic
church, including donations by other countries, individuals,
institutions, etc.  I would like to see the answer presented as an
itemized list of major church assets / income.

---

Request for Question Clarification by larre-ga on 16 May 2002 14:47 PDT

For accuracy, this question would require detailed research over an
extended period by an qualified accounting firm to create even a
simplified "outside" balance sheet for such a huge, global
organization. In case any of our more talented researchers wish to
take a crack at it, you'd probably need to clarify what you mean by
the Catholic Church.

Catholic Church - The Holy See, the American Roman Catholic Church,
Catholic Orthodox church? Which of those entities?

The complete contents of the Vatican Archives is information closely
held by Church, therefore the value can only be guessed at.

The most recent financial statement released by the Vatican, in June
2001, for the fiscal year 2000 shows worldwide totals in short
descriptive form:

[ http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=7818 ]

larre-ga

---

Request for Question Clarification by mvguy-ga on 19 May 2002 20:21 PDT

Hi -- Do you need verifiable numbers, or would you settle for the best
educated guesses available?  Thanks!

I seriously doubt whether such a figure is publicly available, much
less verifiable, but this article gives some estimates relating to
finances:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_15/b3778001.htm

And can you imagine the difficulty in valuing the art, treasures, and
real property??

I have always understood that valuing the Church is an impossible
task.

Tom

Neither of these two sites gives a break down of their claims so I
havenīt posted this as a definitive answear, but they might give you
some ideas.

"the Catholic Church is worth well over $100 Billion Dollars"
http://www.fadetoblack.com/dearf2b/1999/may99/ipo.htm

"the Catholic Church is worth about 93 BILLION dollars in both cash
and property"
http://www.christianityexposed.com/Library/Essays/Root-Of-Evil.htm

Google Search terms:
"the Catholic Church is worth "
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&as_qdr=all&q=+%22+the+catholic+church+is+worth%22&btnG=Google+Search

Hope it helps a little
THX1138

Good Day, mlerner-ga 
     I noticed your query is still unanswered.  Although accepted as a
researcher I am not "in the system" yet as an official researcher;
however, I can comment which allows me to answer your question.

You should find more than you ever wanted to know about the wealth of
the Catholic Church in the book....The Vatican Billions by Avro
Manhattan.
It's listed on www.amazon.com but the hardback and paperback editions
are currently out of print.

I imagine the bibliography in that book would enrich your further
studies in this area.

Best,
Brad-ga

I believe the Catholic Church is the richest organization ever created.

I'm from Melbourne Australia and I can tell you that in Melbourne
alone that the catholic church owns all the best bits of property and
several millions of dollars work of audio and lighting equipment in a
Melbourne based PA company. Alone they would own about $10,000,000.00
worth of assets.


Cheers
DJKIZZA-ga

I suspect the Church itself could not answer this question with any
degree of accuracy...

Hello, mlerner-ga.  I came across an article in "Time Magazine" that
discussed the Catholic Church’s assets.  I remembered your question
and thought that you might like to see the article.

The article is “Can a Church Go Broke?” by Frank Gibney JR. Time (June
3, 2002).

The article is also on "Time’s" Internet site.  The article is “Can a
Church Go Broke?” by Frank Gibney JR.  (June 4, 2002).  Time.com
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,250016-2,00.html

This article does not give a definitive answer, but it does describe
the way in which the church’s assets are spread out.

I hope that this information is helpful.

Lotr-ga