After the fire that devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame, many people
are criticizing the rebuilding of the Cathedral, stating that the best money
destination would be for the people in the greatest need.
But then the question arises: Where were these "defenders of the
poor" at the time of selling their own treasures or works of art belonging
to their own faith?
If you added up all wealth and property of
the Protestant churches and organizations it would FAR exceed that of the
Vatican or all the individual dioceses around the world. Likewise,
in countries of Buddhist majorities, there are huge numbers of Buddha altars
and statues in massive gold, as well as richly ornate palaces. But no one
suggests selling them and distributing the money among the poor. Since they
both advocate the sale of Catholic treasures to end poverty, why do not they
then sell their treasures and distribute them?
Instead, what we observe is that everything is admired and respected,
including by Western tourists. But when it comes to Catholic treasures, like
temples or money that goes to the rebuilding of Notre Dame, all of a sudden,
everything must be sold! The Church is rich! The truth is that this is no more
than a persecution of the Catholic Church by envious anti-Catholics.
The first thing to understand is that the Catholic Church is not an NGO,
not a company, not a club. But we are people! And as such we like to take care
of things that are sacred to us. That is why our Churches are always the target of envy of other peoples, especially our churches that are more richly ornamented.
Also, did you know that the Vatican is a country? The Vatican is the
capital of the Catholic people. What do these envious people want? That the
Vatican was in ruins? For the people who ask about the works of art, they were
all given by people to God for about two thousand years. Now I ask, is it fair
to sell gifts that are not yours and that we do not even know with what effort
were obtained?
Now one thing is a fact, have you ever seen someone propose to sell the
works of art of the Louvre to give money to the poor? Yes, it seems that in the
eyes of the world Catholics have no right to maintain an artistic and
architectural heritage. But instead, we should sell it ...
So it is better to tell your anti-Catholic friend that the land on which
St. Peter's Basilica is built was "bought" by Christians with
blood-river prices. In that place there once existed the dark Circus of Nero.
So we are more in the right to build and maintain a richly ornate temple.
But come on, the cause is noble, "end the hunger of the world"
Would not it be better to sell the effort of all the Churches? No. Because it
will not work. That's not the way to do it. How many millions of dollars have
been sent to the regions of extreme poverty, without success? Many, right?
But corruption did not let anything be done...
However, Catholic-led institutions are able to reach out to these places
and do much - as everyone should know - Catholics spend a lot of money on
charity. Most people don’t realize that most of the Catholic
Church’s “wealth” is in property, hospitals, schools, social services and
churches. We are the largest health care provider in the world.
Just to give three examples, among thousands, we
have the Pastoralist Child Foundation, created by Dr. Zilda Arns, which
dramatically reduces child mortality, wherever it goes. We have the Aid to the
Church in Need (ACN) Foundation that provides relief to people in need in many
countries. And we have Catholic Church work in health services and education
in various regions in Africa. The Cor Unum president underlined the work
of the Catholic Church: "When they come to meet the Pope, the African
presidents recognize this," he said.
Without the Church, I affirmed, a huge part of those afflicted with AIDS
would be abandoned, because the Church, with its network of hospitals, is the
organization that cares for the largest number of people affected by the virus.
Finally, if we sold everything we have, we would have no way to sustain
this work and the money would end up going into the pocket of some politician.
Even so, donations from the Holy See to the poor around the world are frequent
and bulky. When there is a major disaster somewhere on the planet, it is almost
always the Vatican that sends a considerable amount of money.
Just to finish, two more small examples, in 2013 when Harley Davidson
donated two fantastic bikes for Pope Francis, one of the bikes stayed with the
Vatican police (the Gandemeria) and the other was auctioned along with a
jacket. The total collected was almost 300 thousand euros, entirely intended
for charity work.
The same was
done with a Lamborghini car that the Pope won in 2017 and that auctioned for
700 thousand euros. The amount collected for social projects. Among them is the
reconstruction of private property and public buildings in the city of Nineveh
and will also provide assistance to Italian associations that support victims
of prostitution.
But why do atheists and Protestants want to make charity with Catholic
Church money? Why do not the atheists propose to sell their beautiful works of
art, such as those of Niemeyer, scattered throughout Brazil? Surely they will
claim that they belong to the people!
Why do not the Protestants who so much accuse the Catholic Churches sell
their television networks? I'm sure they'll say something like that. So why do
they demand that our Catholic people let themselves be plundered and sacrificed
alone? By the way, what have all these people already renounced or sold in the
name of world hunger? Do you really want to know? Nothing! While
Anti-Catholics make bravado here, our Church promotes human dignity and saves
millions of lives in places that are really in need.
The envy ignores that the Pope could not sell the works of art of the
Vatican, in addition to belonging to our Catholic people, the Vatican was
declared by UNESCO as a patrimony of humanity.
n 1984, Vatican City was registered as a world cultural and natural
heritage site in terms of the UNESCO Convention of November 16th, 1972, which
guarantees the protection of such sites.
Vatican City State is also internationally recognized as the moral,
artistic and cultural heritage site that merits respect and protection as a
treasure that belongs to the whole of humanity. (Site do Estado do Vaticano)
So
the next time your friend annoys you about it, tell him to give his iPhone to
the beggar and stop making speeches about someone else's property! :)
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