Was the Catholic Church wealthy in 1500?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

As the Body of Christ, the Church is spiritually wealthy, as She is in possession of Jesus. In material possessions (land, buildings, etc.) one could certainly say that She is rich. In actual income, She is probably the poorest run "business" on the planet. For one thing She builds for ages, when a church is built, it is not just for the current generation but for all the generations that will follow. The Vatican, itself, is thousands of years old, most of the current buildings were built hundreds of years ago. Of course, She is rich, in faith, in people, in everything that really matters for eternity. As far as income is concerned, the church never has enough to meet all its essential needs and necessary work. The Catholic Church annually spends billions on Her many works to help men's temporal welfare, and is hard put to provide for her thousands of missionaries.

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Answer 2

Roman catholic church is the richest in the world.they have universities,hospitals,hotels and even dummies they used as a front for businesses all over the world that they own.

Roman Catholic AnswerThe Church is rich in Her faith. She is rich in the people who are Her members, in Her history, in Her Sovereign Lord. She is also materially rich in those things that she has preserved through the centuries for the people of God, the buildings, art treasures, etc. On a practical, financial level, the Church is remarkably poor as she gives practically her entire income to meeing the needs of people, whether it is the poor in the missions that she provides for, or the members in richer countries to meet their spiritual needs. In some nations like the United States, the Church has been impoverished trying to meet the needs of those who have been abused by some of Her clergy.

Answer 3

A:

The Catholic Church is incredibly wealthy, but also secretive, such that real estimates of its wealth are virtually impossible. It has vast landholdings around the world, substantial share portfolios and priceless art collections.

Property experts estimate that the church owns between one fifth and one quarter of all the land and buildings just within the city limits of Rome. In that city, the Vatican is the direct proprietor of some five thousand apartments, with further residential propertied held by monks' and nuns' orders, ecclesiastical colleges and academies, confraternities and parishes, and a dazzling mosaic other religious bodies.

Financial analysts using conservative methods of extrapolation, or educated guessing, became convinced that the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See has investment principal in the neighbourhood of half a billion dollars. The Vatican Bank is another major asset about which few even within the Vatican can estimate its value.

It is often asserted that the Catholic Church could never sell its vast collection of artworks, because many of the works are priceless Old Masters, and because any sale would soon undermine the market for old works. However, under Pope Paul VI, the Vatican scoured the world for the best examples of modern art to be added to its collection. An exhibition in 1973 of some of these works involved over 600 paintings and required fifty rooms for them to be displayed.

If the Church ever chooses to divest some small part of its wealth in order to assist the poor, it would be easily able to do so.

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Catholic AnswerIt's just Catholic, not Roman Catholic. Roman is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is never used by the official Catholic Church.

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The wealth of the Church is beyond measuring, as it is not of this world: the wealth of the Catholic Church is all in its Savior, Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, and in His grace which He communicates to all of its members, when they are not in a state of mortal sin, through the sacraments. Thus, in a very real sense, the wealth of the Catholic Church consists in its sacraments, most especially the Most Holy Eucharist, which is truly the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, made present for us (read the second half of the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel). This wealth is shown in her saints, of which She has produced an extraordinary number over the centuries, the latest examples would include Padre Pio, St. Teresa of Calcutta, Bl. John Paul II (soon to be canonized), Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Clelia Barbiere, Saint Gaspar del Bufalo, Saint Ignatius Delgado and Companions, Saint Joseph Moscatei, Blessed Sister Marie Clementine Anuarite Nengapeta, Blessed Marie Leonie Paradis, Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J., Blessed Peter ToRot, Blessed Pierina Morosini, Blessed Rafka de Himlaya, Saint Teresa of Jesus Fernandez.

Answer 4

A:

The Catholic Church is incredibly wealthy, but also secretive, such that real estimates of its wealth are virtually impossible. It has vast landholdings around the world, substantial share portfolios and priceless art collections.

Property experts estimate that the church owns between one fifth and one quarter of all the land and buildings just within the city limits of Rome. In that city, the Vatican is the direct proprietor of some five thousand apartments, with further residential propertied held by monks' and nuns' orders, ecclesiastical colleges and academies, confraternities and parishes, and a dazzling mosaic other religious bodies.

Financial analysts using conservative methods of extrapolation, or educated guessing, became convinced that the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See has investment principal in the neighbourhood of half a billion dollars. The Vatican Bank is another major asset about which few even within the Vatican can estimate its value.

It is often asserted that the Catholic Church could never sell its vast collection of artworks, because many of the works are priceless Old Masters, and because any sale would soon undermine the market for old works. However, under Pope Paul VI, the Vatican scoured the world for the best examples of modern art to be added to its collection. An exhibition in 1973 of some of these works involved over 600 paintings and required fifty rooms for them to be displayed.

If the Church ever chooses to divest some small part of its wealth in order to assist the poor, it would be easily able to do so.

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Catholic AnswerIt's just Catholic, not Roman Catholic. Roman is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is never used by the official Catholic Church.

.

The wealth of the Catholic Church is all in its Savior, Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, and in His grace which He communicates to all of its members, when they are not in a state of mortal sin, through the sacraments. Thus, in a very real sense, the wealth of the Catholic Church consists in its sacraments, most especially the Most Holy Eucharist, which is truly the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, made present for us (read the second half of the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel). This wealth is shown in her saints, of which She has produced an extraordinary number over the centuries, the latest examples would include Padre Pio, St. Teresa of Calcutta, Bl. John Paul II (soon to be canonized), Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Clelia Barbiere, Saint Gaspar del Bufalo, Saint Ignatius Delgado and Companions, Saint Joseph Moscatei, Blessed Sister Marie Clementine Anuarite Nengapeta, Blessed Marie Leonie Paradis, Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J., Blessed Peter ToRot, Blessed Pierina Morosini, Blessed Rafka de Himlaya, Saint Teresa of Jesus Fernandez.

Answer 5

The Catholic Church was in the same position then as now: as the Body of Christ, the Church is spiritually wealthy, as She is in possession of Jesus. In material possessions (land, buildings, etc.) one could certainly say that She is rich. In actual income, She is probably the poorest run "business" on the planet. For one thing She builds for ages, when a church is built, it is not just for the current generation but for all the generations that will follow. The Vatican, itself, is thousands of years old, most of the current buildings were built hundreds of years ago. Of course, She is rich, in faith, in people, in everything that really matters for eternity. As far as income is concerned, the church never has enough to meet all its essential needs and necessary work. The Catholic Church annually spends billions on Her many works to help men's temporal welfare, and is hard put to provide for her thousands of missionaries.

Answer 6

Someone once answered this question by saying that, sadly, it is obscenely rich. Although not a Catholic, he visited the Vatican City in Rome where he paid a visit to the Vatican museums. What greeted him was room after room after room of works of art, paintings, drawings, etchings, sculptures and so on - sculptures in some cases several deep on each side of the walkway through the rooms. Each work of art was worth millions on the open market. Later he was informed that only a small percentage of the treasures they own are on show, and that most treasures are in storerooms not open to the public, so that just the Vatican artwork must be worth countless billions if placed on the open market.
If you then extrapolate that treasure to the many thousands of Catholic churches and cathedrals across the world each with its own treasures and artworks, you can easily believe the assumption that the Catholic Church is, by far, the richest organisation in the world. If just one painting was sold to a rich collector - one out of the countless thousands they have - and the money given to the poor, say, in Africa, the money raised would equal or surpass the total amount of aid given to Africa for the whole of Europe last year.

Answer 7

The Catholic Church in the 1500's was very wealthy and powerful. Much of the wealth came from rich families who bought positions in the church. The church also charged for baptism.