John Paul II’s death cost Vatican $9mn

[im10ashus]

DAMN! Just put me in a furnace, burn my body to ash, and be done with it. $9,000,000???

VATICAN CITY: The funeral of Pope John Paul II last year and the election of his successor Pope Benedict XVI cost the Vatican 7mn euros ($9mn), figures released by the Holy See showed yesterday.

The figures for 2005 still show a profit of 9.7mn euros, the Vatican’s best budgetary performance for eight years, said Sergio Sebastiani, president of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs.

The costs of burying John Paul II in April last year, the subsequent conclave to elect his successor and the mass to install the new pope are listed in the figures under “other income and expenses”.

“This shows a negative result of 7mn euros and reflects costs for the Vacant See,” Sebastiani told a news conference.

cont'd...

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=97124&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21

[acmavm]

1. Not bad for an organization run by a bunch of guys who take

a vow of poverty.

(I'm Catholic, I can say that)

[im10ashus]

4. Recovered Catholic here.

And you are right. Vatican City is one of the wealthiest nations.

[catmother]

7. i like the term "recovered catholic". i was born and raised

catholic but gave up the religion in my 20s. so now i know what to call myself. lol

[im10ashus]

12. LOL!

I've used it for years. I always felt people like us could use some sort of 12-step program to deprogram.

[catmother]

14. i had a friend many years ago who said i was the only catholic

she knew that had escaped it totally. you're right. they should have a 12 step program.

[Sapphocrat]

18. Always recovering, never recovered.

Come on, im10ashus, you know recovery is a lifelong process, one day at a time. ;)

Sign Me,

You Can Take the Person Out of the Church, But...

[TahitiNut]

2. I'm guessing St. Ronnie's cost more. (Edit: Yep. $400 milliion!)

:shrug: $9 million is chump change in comparison.

http://functionalambivalent.typepad.com/blog/2004/06/the_most_expans.html

Another estimate is $10 million - for the funeral only, not the transportation of the body, ete.c
http://www.abcnewspapers.com/2004/July/8ElyseKaner.html

(Nixon's funeral in 1994 cost taxpayers only $300,000 per Newsweek.)

[catmother]

5. you mean ronnie reagan? it always pissed me off when nixon

died. the man left office in disgrace and yet his funeral was that of a great president.

[catmother]

3. while people are starving. how can they justify this?

[im10ashus]

10. Exactly!

One of the MANY reasons I could never go back.

[Virginia Dare]

11. It's been my thought for some time that...

the Catholic church alone could wipe out hunger in the world if they really wanted to. I'd be willing to bet $9 million is a drop in the bucket for the Vatican.

Note: nothing personal against the faith or those who practice it.

[catmother]

13. i agree. i refuse to give money to any religious charity. the only

one that i give to that's close to religious is for the "people of tibet".

[im10ashus]

16. $9 million IS a drop in the bucket.

Their library holds some of the rarest artifacts and writings in the world. They have artwork that is priceless. A lot of this stuff was confiscated during their many bloody religious wars.

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. yep.. very rich country/religion

[Sapphocrat]

21. Here's an anecdote that always ticked me off.

During my eight years at parochial school (run by the Sisters of Perpetual Child Abuse), one of my classmates (age 7) fell off the monkey bars and broke her arm. Months later, her mom told my mom that the church had kicked in its share of the medical bill: $2.00. (Yes, that's two dollars.)

I guess it was some token payment, so the church/school couldn't be sued later. And I would also guess that there was some very fine print on the enrollment form that let them get away with this sort of thing.

As my father used to say, rich people stay rich because they're so cheap. Ditto the RCC.

[DistressedAmerican]

6. What The Hell. They Did Not Work For It!

It is always easy to part with free money just handed to you.

[catmother]

9. when the scandals about the child abuse came out and the

church was paying out lawsuits, i remember joy bahar (the view) saying that she gave money to her church to help build a new school and now it was paying lawsuits. she was very pissed.

[northzax]

8. and how much did it make for Rome?

a lot more than 9 million Euros, I bet. All that media, all the pilgrims, the heads of state, that's a lot of bank.

[jbonkowski]

15. I would guess

That flying in all of the bishops and their staffs to Rome, probably first class, was a big part of the expense.

Those guys don't know anything about vows of poverty.

jim

[BrotherBuzz]

17. The cost of Pope John Paul's funeral was chump change compared....

to all the settlements of their pedophile lawsuits. :shrug:

[Sapphocrat]

19. Proof that I'm a bad, bad ex-Catholic.

Sapph sees subject line: "John Paul II’s death cost Vatican $9mn"

Sapph thinks: "Talk about inflation -- I bet it was a lot cheaper to bump off John Paul I."

Bad, Sapph, bad!

[im10ashus]

20. LOL!

Bad Sapph, indeed!

:-)

This recovered Catholic is right there with you.

[Sal Minella]

25. Funny Sapph!!!

Edit: can't spell a five-letter name correctly on first try.....

[ihaam]

23. The next pope should donate $10 Mn to the poor

and have a simple unannounced burial... He can get his reward, praise and fanfare in heaven...

[im10ashus]

24. If only they weren't all greedy whores.

Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[ihaam]

27. thanks

:) ...

[Catherine Vincent]

26. Did they have that amount of money?

What do they need all that money for?