In the USA, we expect Christian ministries to publish financial statements describing how donations are used (and IRS law requires such disclosure of financial statements). So why was my simple and neutral question about whether the Vatican's financial statements are published online seen as so offensive. Isn't God honored when the many gifts from Christians around the world are totalled and the charitable projects they support described and quantified? Since all giving of such in charity to bless "the least of these' is like giving to Christ himself, isn't disclosure of these "good works" an act of worship? OPTIONAL: I'm not a Roman Catholic but I'm certainly not anti-Catholic or in any way hostile to Catholic projects. I assumed that it was an innocent questions, especially in considering how common financial disclosure by Christians ministries has long been within the USA. By the way, for those who have answered, "Because the Vatican is a nation, not simply a charity." I would simply point out that nations publish a great many financial statements so that their taxpayers know how their taxes are being spent. Plus, although the Vatican is a nation, it is atypical among nations in getting the majority of its revenue by donations from all over the world. And for the person who "answered" by saying that such a question about the Vatican does not belong in the Religion & Spirituality category, I don't understand his/her reasoning. I'm a retired Professor of Religious Studies and articles about the Vatican and its finances have often been published in academic journals of religion, and obviously the quantification of donations from Catholic church members and churches is certainly a religion topic. So that complaint about topicality is both inane and in defiance of the decisions of scholarly journal editors who believe that tithing and donations are a part of religious life for many. And certainly the many kinds of emotional reactions that are provoked by such a neutral question says a lot about religion and how peopole react to religious topics. ------------------------------------------------ It seems that reading comprehension is so often lacking on R&S. My question here was WHY THE HOSTILE REPLIES? Yes, one can easily search for financial statements but the emotions surrounding the subject are my interest.
Religion & Spirituality - 9 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
The emotiognal sdhgradsp between thiose SDA.
2 :
People don't like it when their wrongs are made public.
3 :
don't take offense it's just what "they" do whenever we "question" their doings and why/how could they follow false doctrines and man made and mandated traditions OVER God's Word/Truth and Laws....it's just a "normal" reaction from their programming...God Bless
4 :
even they don't know how much money they have.
5 :
Google Catholic culture.org, they have many years budgets on there, so much for the Private conspiracy SDA person above. All it took was a google :Vatican budget for 2008 Catholic here, it is a reasonable question, here is your answer Cut and Paste style::::: Catholic World News (CWN) Feature Stories Vatican budget shows $11-million deficit (Subscribe to RSS Feed) Vatican, Jul. 7, 2004 (CWNews.com) - The annual budget for the Holy See in 2003 showed a deficit of 9,569,456 euros ($11,853,206)-- about 29 percent smaller than the previous year's shortfall. The separate budget for the Vatican city-state also showed a deficit, of 8, 820,678 euros ($10,925,733). That, too, was an improvement on last year's performance; the deficit was 45 percent smaller. The accounts for 2003 were released by the Vatican press office on July 7. These figures are prepared for an annual meeting of the committee of cardinals who supervise the economic affairs of the Holy See. On Thursday, July 8, Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, the president of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs, will hold a press conference to present the detailed financial reports. The budget figures show that overall income for 2003 at 203,659,498 euros ($252,262,837) and expenses at 213,228,954 euros ($264,116,044), creating the 9,569,456 -euro deficit for the year. The accounts for 2002 had shown a substantially larger deficit of 13.5 million euros. The bulk of the expenses incurred by the Holy See are described as costs of "the service of the Sovereign Pontiff and care for the universal Church." The figures include the salaries of 2,674 people who work within the Roman Curia, including 755 clerics, 344 religious, and 1,575 laymen. The Vatican also pays pensions to roughly 1,000 retired workers. The budget for the Vatican city-state, which handles the temporal affairs of the Vatican, showed a much smaller deficit in 2003 than in 2002; the shortfall in this year's figures was 8,820,678 euros as against 16,048,508 in 2002. The larger single expense for the city-state was the operating deficit of Vatican Radio. In their discussions of the budget, the cardinals who met on July 6 focused on the expenses of Vatican Radio. According to the official statement released on July 7, they took into account the need for new communications technology, and the "important and advantageous" services that Vatican Radio supplies, "especially for countries where there are limited means of evangelization." The Vatican statement also pointed to a 5.7 percent increase in the receipts from the worldwide "Peter's Pence" collection. That collection, in which Catholics everywhere donate to support the Pope and his charitable efforts, brought in 55,842,854 euros ($69,169,751) in 2003. The Vatican statement remarked that the demands on the Pope's charity have been particularly high in recent years because of "grave difficulties caused by tensions and conflicts" around the world.
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They are published on-line; http://www.nlrcm.org/Newsroom/2008/Holy-See-Financial-Statement.pdf
7 :
The Vatican is not subject to IRS laws, dear.
8 :
Some believe in financial accountability regarding 'nonprofit' organizations in the United States. However, the Vatican is its own Governmental body for the city called The Vatican within the country known as Italy at this time. Therefore, all that would need take place is a simple reassignment of the accounting processes. At any rate, many of the organizations currently share an open disclosure report, locally, with their members because of the issue of rapport and honest disclosure principles of the accounting code(s).
9 :
http://www.dfwcatholic.org/holy-see-financial-statements-for-2007 for more info, just type vatican financial statement in the 'search for question' drop down and voila, you will be swarmed with vatican's FS. And you will not complain and look pathetic with that silly 'hostilie reply'' and embarrass yourself.
