Catholic Church: Sell Everything and Give to the Poor?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- The Catholic Church has a lot of money and real estate. Why doesn't it sell it all and give to the poor?
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I went to Mass at St. Peter’s. When it was over I felt like Moses walking down Mt. Sinai when I was walking down the stairs. All the treasures I saw at the Sistine Chapel would be gone for all to see if it was sold. It would deprive future generations of the amazing pieces of art and artifacts that the Church Jesus founded has accumulated through two millennia.
Totally agree.
Agree. Went to St. Peter's 3 years ago. We couldn't go through all the museum due to the long lines but I really enjoy looking and reading about the history of the art & artifacts. I really regretted not being able to go down the catacombs due to it being closed for a private visit.
ALL FAITHS SHOULD GIVE ALL TO THE POOR JUST LIKE THE LEFT BUT DONT HOLD YOUR BREATH
Even photos of the Vatican put me in awe.
Its interesting because artists were enlightened and inspired to create such beauty during renaissance period. Its breath taking for sure!
When I was desperate and iij needed help,a Korean preist not once but twice gave me money to help me no one every did that not my family not anyone,I am here today from the love and kindness of jesus and that will always be close to my heart.
A non-Catholic co-worker brought this question up and this was my answer. The math is simple. There is an estimated 700 million people who live in poverty around the world. If the Church sells everything and gets a trillion dollars ($1,000,000 millions) and divides by 700 millions, she would give each person about $1,500. This would last a person living on $4 a day about 1 year. But after that, nothing more because there would be no more churches, charitable organizations, schools, hospitals where Catholics can go to or work in, so, no more donations forever...
Sorry but you are not using the money efficiently. If I were you, I would buy a food company. For example, Nestle market cap is about 325 billion. You are giving a free labor 700 million people. You can create miracles with this work force if you use them in farmlands. I would not buy a farm land. I would rent them. There are many goods things you can do with this money.
@@yilmazkurt8584 The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of health care services in the world. It has around 18,000 clinics, 16,000 homes for the elderly and those with special needs, and 5,500 hospitals, with 65 percent of them located in developing countries.
You should look up the word Mutual Aid
That would be pointless. They are there to make money of the poor, if they can’t, they would collapse.
Sorry your math is wrong. The church needs to sell out so everyone can stop the practice, believing in things that dont and won't exist!!
I do have a second comment: as a poor person who works for the poor, and goes to school at the same time, I can say totally, this is why having a Mission Volunteer experience is important. Even if you have had them before. Compassion reminders are important 🙏❣️💗. God bless you, Father Casey....
Thanks for liking! Could I give myself permission to also thumbs up myself? I have never done that before. I thought I would try it to help promote the Franciscan Friars! All of them! God bless them 💓🤗💕🌼😇!
Huge fan here! Can you do a segment on eucharistic miracles?
Ditto, Father!
Yeah, that'd be great
Imaginary
That video would be a gift from God.
@@dawnlapka2433 yes, i like this. Especially with the recent beatification of Blessed Carlo Acutis (who catalogues the eucharistic miracles in a website) to honor the event. 😊
Father Casey, i'm from Brazil and i really love your channel. May God bless you more and more....😊
@igor lopes Ceará
@igor lopes 👍👍😊😊
People who say the Catholic church hoardes all their money are usually those who have never even been involved in a pastoral meeting. The church does a lot of financial aid, reliefs, social welfare and much more community-based activities. My diocese built a lot of roads in rural areas so that locals, Catholics and non-catholics alike, can easily access towns and health clinics.
The beauty of the Catholic church is that it concerns more than just the afterlife, it also strives to make this present life better. Unfortunately, whenever the church has extra money to do some renovations, people are quick to point fingers.
Give ALL you have not some.
@@Windchanter420as a member we give but do YOU give yourself?
@@Literallyandfiguratively nothing because i dont beleive nor claim to but yall claim to follow this book and it says its easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than fora rich man to enter heaven looks like an awful lot of rich men to me
@@Windchanter420 I give what I can. Who do you think you are and you don't even do your part to give?
@@Literallyandfiguratively a rational human being who doesn't claim to believe in a magic man in the sky who could fix everything if he wanted to but simply dosent
For years I been told that the Catholic church has been the richest Church in the whole world. and if it were to sell everything it would solve world hunger! Now being a minister/ becoming Catholic this has opened up my eyes to see how wrong and dumb I was as a child
Not really. Hunger will forever be part of our lives. Sale of the Vatican will not solve world hunger
Using that assumption let's never give money to the poor. They will always be poor so let's not help them at all.
@@TheMoonSeesMe give them once, they will always look forward to it. People are generous by heart because we were taught to be so by our parents. But as we grew older we had our own definitions of being generous and compassionate. We must not feel remorse on our part if we opt not to give to the needy and less fortunate ones. But still even if we impose some restrictions om being generous, the inate character of being compassionate is inherent in us so still we give to others.
Like what was written in a proverbs. Give a man fish, he will eat today. Give his fishing tools, he will be able to feed himself forever. I might have butchered the proverbs but this is what I learn by being involved with the catholic youth society. No matter how much you donate in term of money/food etc, it won't change much unless they're taught a better way of providing by themselves. It's common to hear the church in running on deficit in my place but due to generous people, the local church is able continue to provide help to the poor.
Hunger is caused by imbalance. There are those who have colossal wealth like most royal families. Vatican doesn't need all that opulence, they should trim the fat and live simply. Look at all those overweight priest's, cardinals and bishops. All the super wealthy use tax loopholes they should be taxed heavily. They use charities to generate passive income, like the Clinton's.
Selling Vatican would be a curse for that who buys it. A lot of people would hate the new owner/s. And rightfully so.
What an insight. I agree. And what are they going to do with all that religious art?
Tis like ... america is really rich .. they should sell america to China and give the money to the poor asian and americans.
I have a feeling the purchaser would hate it just as much. What would they do with it? How could they generate the money needed to maintain it?
I've heard that the Catholic Church's umbrella charity organization, Caritas, has an annual budget of £4 billion. So to sell everything the Church owns, as a one-off to top that amount up by just a quarter, seems like a bit of a waste :/
Have you got a source for that?
I could believe it, they fund soup kitchens and outreach for the poor and homeless in pretty much every city where catholics exist. Plus countless other programs.
Good day everyone, may I ask for prayers for my father who is in hospital please.
Thank you and I hope you are well ❤️
🙏
I will pray a decade of the rosary to your father now. God bless.
Praying for your dad and you now! Many blessings!!!
🙏 , GOD BLESS HIM
I would just like to give thanks to everyone who has and will continue to pray for my father. Know that you are also in my prayers and thank you again ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Well said, Father Casey. Thank you!
If the assets will be sold and be given to the poor, what is left to help the poor when the assets are gone?
If the proceeds from the sold assets will be saved or deposited to be given gradually to the poor, then that saved money is still another form of assets. Then again, if the assets are used up in helping the poor , where will be the next sources of money or assets in continuing to help the poor if all the assets have been sold?
If a Vatican or Church asset eg. Renaissance painting will be sold, it will be a property to be viewed by a few instead of the public. If that art will be put in a private museum for public viewing, most probably the revenue will go a profit entity.
How can they truly measure the assets of the Church? Can they truly measure the faith and history associated with that asset?
And for crying out loud! Why do we need to receive something if we truly want to help the poor?! If a person wants to donate money to help the poor, why that person wants to get a Vatican or Church asset to help? Why can’t we just help without getting or receiving anything? After all, our ultimate reward is Heaven with The HOLY TRINITY eternally and not a piece of Vatican or Church asset.
My heart with you with wishes 💕
Blessings from 🇦🇪( UAE)🌷🌷🌷
Very good video that presents another view to those thinking the church is wealthy. The best way to deal with negativity is information. Thank you Father Casey for this video and all the information about the church that you create.
Some local Catholic churches struggled with keeping up the spending. There's one church in NW DC that has a school and has a big congregation. The Homily Mass is given in English, Vietnamese, Creole Haitian, and mostly in Spanish....and sometimes we have to give extra donations because electricity, water, bathroom supplies, and other maintenance costs. God bless and protect our beloved church. My truly love and appreciate my Catholic privilege. God is always good. I will never ever, ever leave the/ my church just because of the bad apples. We are all going to paid our sins separately. I will use the excuse of the bad things happen in the church to abandoned my faith. God bless you.
Fr. Casey, you are truly an inspiration for all of us. God bless you, greetings from Germany.
Henry the eighth of England tried that and gave all the assets:: to King Henry the eighth.
And it mostly went to funding wars...
We can all do more by spending less on things and giving more
Fr. Casey, I love your videos. I was wondering if you could do a video on indulgences and the misunderstandings regarding them.
Thank you Fr. Casey.
Selling every asset owned by the RC church and distributing the money to the poor throughout the world would be a self defeating exercise - obviously.
People in 1st world countries are quite ignorant of the depth & breadth of charitable work done in the past & is continually being done presently for the disadvantaged poor in 3rd world countries by the RC church. The infra-structure & personell placed deep in inaccessible rural areas in these countries are numerous & are only there to serve the poor in health care, education, spiritual well being (go & teach all nations - baptising them .........) etc etc.
Father Casey, I come from an African 3rd world country and have seen & experienced 1st hand - the great work/service to humanity being done by the Roman Catholic Church.
Thank you and may God bless you all.
Thank you Fr. Casey.
This has been a real eye opener for me and for the many around the world.
Church also feeds the poor in spirit.
Should we all live on potatoes?
That you for this! I've gotten this objection often from non believers and it's nice to have a video to point to. It's surprising that other apologists don't address it but thank you so much for doing so. GOD bless you!
Fr I salute you for addressing this issue. Hopefully this will put this misunderstanding to rest. Thank you again Father. Can anyone tell me this amazing Priest's name?
Father Casey
Casey Cole
@@steven21736 Thank you so much for your help. His name will be entered on my Priests Prayer List. The Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart invited me to pray for Priests in the Year of Priests.
1:32 - That's Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. Beautiful church.
Well when you put it that way, it makes a lot more sense. By donating everything it had to the poor, the Church would only be giving a small percentage of the impoverished their physical needs for a short period of time, but in turn loose its pseudo-spiritual gift of its many awe-inspiring historical monuments, holy spots, and artifacts. How would you even sell most artifacts to begin with if they are priceless?
I never had a very strong counter-argument for this point, but now I do!
Great explanation as always! Thank you for making this video
Sadly, if all of us gave our money to the poor, there would STILL be poor. The best way to banish poverty is through job creation, so that people can lift themselves out of poverty. It's the same principle as teaching a man to fish rather than giving a fish away.
Agree, but when there isn’t enough job, giving them money to buy something to fill up their stomach is the best second thing to do.
Using that assumption let's not give any money to the poor. They can get out of it themselves
@@TheMoonSeesMe
It’s perfectly possible to provide both immediate assistance and help long term with job creation, you don’t have to pick one or the other.
We also need to have an objective measurement of poverty, rather than a relative measurement of poverty. In the USA, if you make less than 60% of the median household income, you are considered to be poor. However what this does is that as people get richer, the poor will always be, "poor" even if they make enough money to eat everyday, have a place to stay, and some form of entertainment. Which in my opinion is not poverty, but is considered such. It would put things into perspective a lot more.
No way, selling is not an Option. This are Sacred places that give Testimony to the Presence of Christ our God and Savior through out History. It can't become Just Property. Beside it's PRICELESS. 🙏💒🌅
It's about time someone told that story
Thank you Father Casey.that is all true and l hope it clears that talk that we are loaded with wealth and we should give to the poor.well what do that think that the catholic church has been doing from the beginning
NOW IT IS CLEAR AS WELL AS THE TRUTH.
YOU ARE SO INFORMED AND TELL IT ALL AS IT IS.GREAT TEACHER !!!!!!!!!
The alabaster anointing scene comes to mind...
Amen!
As if selling the Vatican treasures would eradicate poverty.
John 12:5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” says Judas Iscariot
When my university class went to the vatican everyone thought it was too much of a tourist attraction and couldn't feel anything particularly spiritual. I mean the the thought of giving everything to the poor may be flawed anyway because it will only really extend a life but not save a soul. There's the thought maybe it will bring them to the church but that may be for the wrong reasons as some people may become overly dependant or take advantage of the charity. I know I'm being cynical but sometimes its better to teach and help show them how to fish than giving them every fish you ever catch. It's like Aristotle's golden mean where going to much to an extreme is destructive.
It tends to be easier to learn a new skill when not dying of hunger. If we were to modify the saying to be anything realistic it would be "Give a man a fish, then teach him how to get more". Finding god trough suffering is how the albanian dwarf managed to set India back 20 years in matters of public health and scientific knowledge for the public.
I have always been under the impression that the Church acted, as you say, stewards of those items currently in their care. It's a kind of cache of human history and civilization, held for all of humanity. It doesn't belong to the Pope, or even the Church, necessarily. Think of the Doomsday Seed Vault, but for art and documents. When the last computer goes to dust, if taken care of, these things will be a lasting record of our history.
And in addition, those who contributed with money and works for everything in all Churches didn't do it to have them in a museum for few people, they did it to praise the Lord and for the benefit of all His people. Each generation only is an steward of the previous ones contributions
@Jun Don what about all the stolen gold and silver that become these so called masterpieces? what about the natives in various parts of the world who were mistreated so that the raw product could end up in a place that the vast majority of the 7.5 Billion people who currently live on this blue ball we call Earth will never have the opportunity or means to see?
@Jun Don you are just another puppet apologist who is unable to answer a simple question without going off track. Thank you for showing me that you think the RCC has done more for the natives that encountered people like Christopher Columbus and the Conquistadors even though they effectively wiped out entire ethnic groups of people with weapons and disease and made slaves of what remained. I don't blame modern dictators they learned what they know from the RCC whose "popes" were being dictators long before anyone else. You do know the word dictator is a latin word don't you?
@Jun Don The video is about the RCC it is not about what is happening in Syria etc. The RCC has done some extremely wicked and evil things and through them it has obtained immeasurable wealth. You seem to be ok with that and because of that our conversation is now concluded with me leaving knowing that you just confirmed that you are just a puppet apologist.
@@michaelau5159 Let me answer as a catholic living in a country that suffered colonial rule for almost 200years. The mistreatment and oppression was part of the entire colonization process.The whiteman's savior complex doesn't necessarily just come from the church. Earliest Europeon travellers to India have written highly about our society,rich cultural heritage,human values, art music and of course riches. So when the Europeon trader first stepped in India it was not to convert or reform or enlighten the savages but for trade. But when unscruplous and crony capitalism kicks in, religion becomes just a weapon to oppress, to divide,to kill and to loot. Every religion under the sun has a very bad track record when invested with political power. Yes, terrible things were done in the name of the Church, but remember that the people running the church are part of the same society me and you come from.
I like this channel. I’ve been thinking about coming back to the Catholic Church.
Jesus Himself said: the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me. (mat 26:11)
The context of that remark is that when a woman anointed Jesus, there was criticism towards the woman, the precious oils she used could be sold and the money could be given to the poor.
This is the beauty of the Gospels, there's many levels and angles to be found, some obvious, others less obvious.
A less obvious truth in the Gospels is (imo at least) there is a much deeper commentary under the surface, perfectly understanding and exposing the human condition.
It is not a coincedense that the disciple who was the most fanatic and dogmatic about 'helping the poor' was also the one who betrayed Jesus.
The gospels have several meanings at once, and that part warns against helping the poor just on it's own merits, like we see happening in our own time: everyone is 'opressed' there's a victimhood competition, but there's nothing deeper behind it, no deeper truth.
God through Jesus is the deeper truth and the endgoal, not ending poverty, once Judas realises what the deal is, he can not agree with that and decides to betray Jesus.
The gospels are truth yet also analogies at the same time about human behaviour, the human psyche that are timeless.
This is one of the criticisms of the Church which bugs me the most!
If we want to talk about how much money the Catholic Church possesses then we should talk about the Protestant churches too. The Church of England, for example, is one of the biggest land owners in the UK, worth billions of pounds, but no one says a word about that🤷🏻♀️ The Church of Scotland is a massive landowner too.
But because the splendour of the Catholic Church, the cathedrals, artefacts etc are all on show for everyone to see and experience, people find it easy to criticise. Almost everything the Church owns has been passed down through the centuries to benefit the whole Church, not just a few individuals. So no one OWNS it really.
People seem to have this notion that Pope Francis sits on a pile of gold or something🤦🏻♀️ I don’t understand it.
Not to mention all of the charitable work the Church does to help people every day. If it gave ALL of its money away, then it wouldn’t be able to do any of that. The lack of foresight in people is crazy😒
Anyways, thank you for the video Father Casey👍🏻
Church of England should divest itself of its worth but like the Salvation Army, also worth billions and the Roman Catholic Church worth much more than 1.5 billion it will not it serves only itself the others
Your comment is factually incorrect. The "Crown" (realistically being the Government) actually owns the land in the UK. Yes Churches, as well as others like sporting organisations, are given title (think of it like custodianship) to it BUT the ownership has and always remains with the Crown.
@@michaelau5159 The Church Commissioners are worth a fortune in commercial real estate and shareholdings. They are one of the larger commercial enterprises in the UK
@@michaelau5159 I might add that in addition to the wealth of the Church Commissioners, The Diocese of Sydney LOST over $100 million in bad investments a few years ago. My background is a Priest and former manager of Church Trust Property
@@gregrowlands9632 you are aware that they are accountable to the UK Government aren't you? Who is the Pope, or any other "Catholic" staffer, accountable to? The RCC owns billions of dollars worth of goods and Vatican City is palacial. The Bible clearly states Matthew 6:16-24 that you cannot serve 2 masters. Choose wealth or God. In the end God is the judge and will hand out to each their reward I just hope millions of "Catholics" don't end up in a state of shock when they find out their "2000 year old" "church" has spent most of its existence going against the Word of God.
Gracias fray Casey por su amor a la evangelización a través ddd es estos medios. Bendiciones espirituales usted.!!🙏🏼🙏🏼👋🏼
Indeed. And one wonders whether the other denominations who also have non taxable benefits unaudited have the same kind of accountability to humanity.
As an accounting major I like how you broke down the concept of wealth vs. actual wealth.
Some items The Vatican holds can not be valued. The historical value alone is far too great.
I agree The Church does better work for everyone using it's assets in good stewardship than blind distribution of wealth.
Good Job!!
Fr. Casey, God bless you! Thank you 🙏
Future generations would not be able to appreciate and marvel the beauty of these Churches.
Once again, a great exposition, Father Casey. It's great that you included a bit of a spreadsheet in your presentation. Perhaps parishioners could ask to see the books for their parish and diocese to get a more clearer financial picture. On the personal side of "return on investment", years ago I was deeply despondent and was helped out by Catholic Social Services. If they hadn't been there then, I wouldn't be here now.
Economic aid from the UN destroyed Africa. The real help we can do is to go there and help people with education and skills that they can give to their future generations.
And that is exactly what the Catholic Church has done for centuries.
Economic aid hardly destroyed Africa. It's the strings attached to that aid (e.g. austerity policies, giving up some degree of political and economic independence) that ends up hurting African countries.
Great Homily.
In my personal experience, an awful lot of people that go on about the Poor etc and look down on the Catholic Church are them self guilty of inconsistencies. For example whilst travelling around Europe I encountered one such lady bemoaning the wealth of the Church at Melk. I was forced to ask this lady if there was evidence that she herself cared so much for the poor? For example her costly Holiday was a self indulgence that could easily have helped many poor people to live a better life. . .indeed like Judas Iscariot bemoaning money spent on Our Lord such comments betray these detractors and leave vast questions as to their own logical conclusions. Quite frankly I find such people a waste of time and the flaunting of their ignorance is as shallow as their appreciation of History or Theology or Art.
This video is really enlightening. Thank you Father Casey.
Thanks and I accept your point, but I do feel uncomfortable about how the church has accumulated all the riches. For example the gold in Spanish churches. And the church, in the past at least, has seemed more concerned with protecting its interests rather than its mission.
This is a well needed video, thank you!
Reminder that asking for the Church to be taxed is to assume that the governments receiving those funds will use those in an efficient manner and for altruistic thing. Given what we’ve witnessed in the 20th and 21st century, there’s fair reason to have doubts about those governments spending those funds altruistically
BRILLIANT VIDEO . IM GOING TO SHOW MY JEWISH DAD WHO ALWAYS SAYS THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS RICH. THANKS FOR ANOTHER BRILLIANT VIDEO 🤩
I've been very poor most of my life. One of my life's greatest pleasure is to walk into a beautiful Catholic Church and know that in part it is mine. I have a wonderful place to pray. Besides, to whom should the world's most talented artists bring their tribute? Donald Trump?
Correction George Soros! This is a plan of the socialist Pope we have to destroy everything Christian! Wake up!
When your home diocese is mentioned in a Video (2:22):
*Leonardo Di Caprio pointing meme*
Thought it said Diogenes for a second...
Thanks Fr. Casey, a good info for the non Catohlic critics. God bless!
I've never had the pleasure of visiting Rome and the Vatican. However, in the 80's New Orleans hosted the World's Fair and I was able to visit the fair and the Vatican Exhibit. I was awed by the art and artifacts on display.
I don't think that the Church should sell it all.
The Saint deacon Lawrence of Rome (3rd century) was forced to hand over the treasures of the Church (according to a legend) and delivered dozens of poor and old and handicapped to the oppressing King
0:13 wtf? Who would say something that silly? There's monumental architecture all around the world, that argument would basically amount to someone seeing the Piramids and wondering why doesn't everyone convert to ancient Egyptian Religion
Home run video! God bless you and Mama Maria save you Father Casey!
I think too, when people look at huge cathedrals, they have this subconscious belief as though the church came out of a box, put up over a few months and has instant value. These cathedrals are testimonies to sometimes decades, even centuries of building and decorating and renovating. Not all Catholic churches are old, true, but the ones people point to and criticize usually are older buildings, and like old cars, they have constant upkeep that is the responsibility of the parishioners.
Agree. Most of the churches I visit actually need to be upkeep by frequent parishioners. My local church had to make a 5-year maintenance donation/pledge for local parishioners just to repair & replace the leaking roof of the church. The infrequent visitors are the one complaining that the church is asking for money when they don't even contribute. Up-keeping an old church takes a lot of money which people don't realized that the local church depends on local parish to donate
Just like Jesus told Judas 2000 years ago, "We will always have the poor with us".
@@hitekrednek7664 Even if every last piece of art was auctioned off, the poor would still be with us, just as Jesus said.
@@hitekrednek7664 Obvious anti Catholic bigot here. Of course I can read pendejo. How about those scriptures I asked you to provide so I can read them for myself? The Catholic Church gives millions of dollars every year all around the world to help the poor and raise standards of living and human dignity. What have YOU ever done kemosabe? Once again, I'd love to see you prove your biblical assertations with some actual scriptures instead of bitter opinions.
@@hitekrednek7664 Only a fool and a bigot thinks the largest and oldest Christian form is an apostate. It seems you may be that apostate. You are certainly a bigot.
Fantastic and as ever very informative. I am considering learning Latin.. is it something one should do to progress in the clergy?
Depends if you are becoming a priest or not. If you are then it might be extremely useful one day
I don't thinkit is required, but would probably be helpful. That being said learning latin is just a good time anyway whether priest or not.
Thank you father. I finally understand it
Not only is the Vatican is a treasure-trove of Renaissance masterpieces -- all available to the public regardless of faith -- it also houses the world's largest collection of art from Greek and Roman Classical Antiquity, most of it excavated from Rome and other areas around Italy (unlike the pirated collections at the British Museum or the Louvre). So the Vatican Museums are actually performing a great service to world heritage.
I can't say that I know too many people in the market for a Vatican
THANK YOU Fr Casey... this is a subject in need of discussion/advice...long overdue. It would also be very apt if the number of missionaries/people working "out of their comfort zone" and the money Church charities spend each year...eg ACN, Caritas, St Vincent de Paul, etc. be made public as well. THEN the naysayers just may agree that the Catholic Church is doing positive work throughout the world; particularly for those in need and elsewhere.
God bless you
I've argued this point for years, now i have a great video to share instead :)
Use the assets to pay the Legal bills for Priests abuses of the Congregants,instead of shaking down the members of the dioceses.
You didn’t even mention the cost of atrocities. How many dioceses ARE selling off property due to legal costs? Come on Fr. Casey.... how much COULD be spent on “the Poor” if not lining lawyers pockets for despicable acts?
Thank you for making this video. Lots of good points in it!
One thing I don't understand, though, is why the Church bought expensive buildings and works of art in the first place. I believe the answer presented in the video is that it helps people have a certain kind of spiritual experiences. But what kind of spiritual experiences require expensive surroundings?
This passage came to mind
Luke 7:24 When John's messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. 26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.
Also add the millions of jobs generated, directly or indirectly. Foro example in tourism, services, supplies - as most spectacular churches in the world are also museums and tourism references.
I appreciate you taking this issue on because this is used as an offhand criticism of the church a lot
The material riches of the Catholic Church are not cash as people but rather historical arts,statues, monuments,etc which have extremely low LIQUIDITY
God bless you Fr. Casey
Interesting to get the perspective from a Franciscan Priest on this subject. A "Rhema" is a personal word from God for the individual. In the film, "Brother Son, Sister Moon," the father of St. Francis is talking about how much money he made during the war. St. Francis makes a "V" with his hand, and the indentation of the shadow is upon a Gold Coin. This Scripture is not said in the movie, yet the Scripture comes to me every time I see the movie, and I think Zeffirelli had the scripture in mind, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" We need ask ourselves this question. Now, as a Protestant Christian I am not stating that the Roman Catholic Church should sell all and give to the poor. Rather, there was a time where my wife and I had no money coming in. My wife had a problem with her heart rate pace. We went to Holy Cross Hospital. The bills were paid by a Catholic Charity. I think of the Scripture in Matthew 25, "The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." vs 40. My point is Protestant organizations only gave me a turkey from Ralphs...you get my drift, especially, if you read the rest of chapter 25. That was 11 years ago, I am on my feet now.
Yes.
Thanks for the beautiful explanation father.
Please can you do a video explaining was mary sinless and why pray to mary
This always gets asked. It’s a dumb question. It would just be an empty gesture that wouldn’t result in anything good .
@@hitekrednek7664 intentions are nice. Lets say we got the pope to agree to sell- how much would we sell it for and who to give the money to?
@@hitekrednek7664 the Sistine chapel was painted by MichaelAngelo. Let’s sell it for a million and make it rain on skid row.
Now we all feel good. Next let’s sell St Judes children’s hospital for 100K and buy everyone a happy meal.
@@hitekrednek7664 I’m sorry you worked for cardinal mccarrick, but you don’t know how the rest of us behaves.
I also hope you make it out of your liberal arts courses and get some practical experience.
@@hitekrednek7664 ha, I knew you were in school. Love your zeal though. Keep studying and I hope it leads to the sequel.
Fr could you please Make a video on why we keep the bodies of Saints.
I appreciate your practical apologetic here, however I really wish you’d also have focused on the sacramental and theological aspects behind all those assets too.
Well explained ✝️🙏
Catholic from Philippines with ♥️
Pro Deo Et Ecclesia
A very good defence of catholic church finances, but, what of the Vatican banks? where does the money in the Vatican banks come from?
We could compare it to the personal wealth of the 10 richest Pastors of the separated churches... oh wait we are Catholics we don't do that
May I share this with all the naysayers Fr. Casey?
I am Catholic and i love the church. I think the Vatican should preserve everything historical and sacred there, for records, pilgrimages and tourism. Also you might want to check carefully concerning that first picture of the church giving charity to people somewhere in Africa, because i haven't seen that. Maybe the Vatican supported in charities long ago, probably not anymore. I didn't grow up to see a Catholic church that is into charity, but majority of us here were raised to extend generosity even when you've got very little, which have actually been our culture more than it is a religious obligation. Here, rich and poor catholics contribute and are even levied to build Catholic schools and other church mega projects, after completion the schools are made super expensive that only the children of the very rich could attend. I would say Charities in Africa are not church based, they are individual based, people based, or non-governmental. People can be very religious, but there is virtually little or no guarantee of charity from the church within, or any charity from the Vatican.
I have watched some of your videos, nice work👍💪
"Man can't live by bread alone." That's why Jesus came down from heaven not to save the poor nor the Jews from Roman oppression. Jesus came to die on the Cross to save our souls and prefared us for the Kingdom of God.
I want to listen to a long video/audio about the Vatican, by a Catholic who
1. Isn’t a sedevacantist
2. Used to be Protestant
3. Has phds and stuff
You may want to check out author Peter Kreeft, he may check off all your boxes, and is an excellent writer - I've read his commentary of St. Augustine's Confessions and very much enjoyed his perspective and style. I have found no indication of him being a sedevacantist, he was raised Presbyterian/Calvinist (his bachelor's degree is from Calvin College), and holds a PhD but I don't remember what its in, probably philosophy/theology. I'm sure he's produced some video/audio material (who hasn't these days?) but I haven't looked around for any. Not sure if he has spoken specifically about the Vatican, but he has a lot of material in the realm of Apologetics, might be a good place to look.
How much could we get for a papal ring or papal cross? Because popes and cardinals die, we have a lot of that aren't being used anymore. And how about papal shoes, robes, underwear, vestments, pens, combs and silverware.
Well what would that solve on the long term? Being poor means that you pay more than you earn, having a negative balance.
That would counterbalance for a while, like a morphine shot
Then everything will go back to the way it was. But without the Church.
Still, I believe the Church could do with more modesty, especially from the heads of hierarchies, especially in the middle east
The poverty has to be solved by a redistribution of resources. There are plenty for everyone.
These not only appear to be fair questions, they ARE fair questions.
Let us not forget that we are the church and we are responsible for our neighbors requirements...if so all must sell and give to the needy... the problem is not with properties but with our attitudes towards neighbors.. praise the Lord...
This is a valuable source. I watched this video a while ago. Today I stumbled upon another video saying that if we liquidated the entire Catholic Church, we could end world hunger. I thought of this video. What are your sources for this video? I am interested in doing more research in this area. As a side note, I study theology, and this isn't really a theological question (though it does have a lot of interesting social, political, economic, ethical and theological implications), and so I sort of love-hate having to address this question. A lot of atheists bring it up as if it is some sort of zinger to "disprove" Catholicism or make the Catholic Church look bad.
great video, best i have seen on the topic! but allow me to answer how you can walk into the Vatican and remain an atheist: Would visiting the pyramids make you worship Anubis? would visiting the Panthenon make you pray to Zeus, or Athene? would seeing the Taj Mahal make you a hindu? if yes... thats surprising. If no, you'll understand my point.
Do you really think that banker was killed for meddling with treasures of humanity?
Congrats on the 150kth subs. Go for 200k
Spread the word!
“Sell the Vatican?”
OH HELL TO THE WAY NO. OVER MY DEAD BODY😕
The modern day Church is only the custodian of these assets and they belong to the human race so should never be sold.
I admit you did make some points I haven't considered, but ultimately having the center of your church be gold encrusted palaces will remain a bad look. No one is suggesting you sell all the properties, just all the gold, mainly. Put in some nice vinyl siding.
😂😂😂😂😂
It kind of goes to the same question why so much money was raised to fund the restoring of the Notre Dame Cathedral after the fire a couple years ago and some criticized this in that it should have gone toward helping the poor rather than fixing a building.
Our church already helps the poor far more than any other organization on earth, so there is an arrogance to that accusation. Also, much of society seems to have forgotten the value of beauty, how important it is to guide us into truth and goodness. People would more readily marvel at the next Avengers movie than appreciate real beauty. It’s no surprise that the rise of brutalist/modernist/postmodern style has led to an increase of meaninglessness among the population. We need something to look up to, and if that something is bland and colorless and ugly, so too will we become.
The first question should always be how old is the place? The older the place is the more ornate and expensive they look. Especially Renaissance era churches
All that stuff belongs to history. People go to see it and that creates jobs. It creates lots and lots of jobs. Spiritual poverty is a big problem. That is the real issue.