How wealthy is the Catholic Church and where does it get its wealth from?

Coming up with a total figure for the wealth of the Church, which represents 1,4 billion Catholics in the world, is a demanding, if not impossible, task.

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Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

23.05.2025. 08:28h

There is a saying that the value of the Catholic Church's property is one of the secrets of the faith - a secret that this institution has guarded for centuries.

The church is divided into numerous branches - dioceses, each of which runs its own affairs.

Coming up with a total figure for the wealth of the Church, which represents 1,4 billion Catholics in the world, is a demanding, if not impossible, task.

But let's start with the Holy See, the spiritual and administrative authority located at the very heart of this religious organization - the Vatican.

Holy See

Due to the Church's inherent secrecy, speculation about the size of the Holy See's wealth has only accumulated over the years.

But from the beginning of his reign, Pope Francis, who died on April 21 of this year, advocated for change and greater financial transparency.

One example is the publication of the 2021 financial report for the previous year. of the Apostolic See Heritage Administration (APSA), which has now become an annual practice.

It was the first time since the inception of APSA that these figures had come to light.

According to the latest APSA report, in 2023, the Vatican-run branch of the Church reported a total profit of more than $52 million and an increase in assets worth almost $8 million over the previous year.

His net worth is not disclosed, but the latest estimate is nearly $1 billion, according to the Center for Research on Markets, Culture and Ethics (MCE), in Rome.

This value refers to all assets managed by the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), known as the Vatican Bank, so it does not include numerous buildings and most of the land.

APSA says the Church also earns income from managing more than 5.000 properties, a fifth of which are rented out.

That generates operating revenues of $84 million and net annual profits of nearly $40 million, APSA says.

All of these figures refer to the Vatican financial system and exclude other branches of the Catholic Church around the world.

Because the finances of the Catholic Church are decentralized, with each diocese managing its own budget, the total wealth and income from around the world is much larger and may not even be calculated.

"It is practically impossible to estimate the assets of the entire Catholic Church," says Fernando Altemeyer Jr., a professor in the department of social sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP).

Globally, the Church's numerous branches own between 71 and 81 million hectares of land, according to the Paris-based Institute for the Study of Religions and Secularism (IREL), making the Church one of the largest landowners in the world.

Property includes churches, schools, hospitals, monasteries and other properties.

The origins of the wealth of the Catholic Church

So how did this situation come about, if the Catholic Church follows its own Code of Canon Law?

This regulation implies that the Church should not strive for the accumulation of capital or the acquisition of profit.

The church began to accumulate goods and wealth in the 4th century under Emperor Constantine (272-337 AD), who made Catholicism the official religion of the Roman Empire, writes Ney de Souza in his book History of the Church.

Historians claim that at that time Christians lived modestly and held services in their own homes or catacombs.

"These events radically changed the history of Christianity and the Roman Empire," adds De Souza.

"From being persecuted, the Church has now become privileged and the owner of many properties."

But it paved the way for wealth comparable to that of the great dignitaries of the Roman Empire.

Huge wealth

Constantine and many other leaders of the Roman Empire donated palaces, estates, lands, and even thermal spas to the Church, along with gold and silver.

From that moment on, a donation mechanism was established.

Today, the Church adds to this priceless works, museums with millions of visitors who pay admission each year, and investments in financial markets.

At the center of Catholic power is the Vatican.

Its government is an absolute monarchy administered by the Pope - the name given to the Bishop of Rome.

Tourism is another source of income:

Religious and historical buildings: Apostolic Palace, St. Peter's Basilica, buildings attached to the Basilica, Domus Vaticana (former Casa Santa Marta)
Museums and galleries: 15 museums, including the Sistine Chapel, Raphael Rooms, Vatican Pinacoteca, Missionary Ethnological Museum and Historical Museum
Libraries and archives: Vatican Apostolic Library, Apostolic Archives, Vatican Editorial Library
Media and communications: Vatican Radio, L'Oservatore Romano newspaper, Vatican Media, Vatican Television Center
Other institutions: Vatican Bank, Vatican Observatory

Major assets of the Vatican

The Vatican owns 12 large properties outside its own territory, which include basilicas Saint John Lateran, Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Saint Mary the Great, Saint Anne, offices of various dicasteries and the papal summer residence in Gandolfo Castle.

It also receives global voluntary donations through a system called the Peter's Coin, which supports social initiatives, Vatican operations, tourism, the museum, and maintenance.

Sources of income include the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, the sale of commemorative stamps and coins, institutions such as the Vatican Bank and APSA, which manages substantial assets.

Benito Mussolini

Most of the wealth came from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Italian historian and founder of the Community of Saint Egidio, Andrea Riccardi, says that in 1929, Mussolini deposited 1,75 billion Italian lire (approximately $91,3 million at the time) into the treasury of the Holy See.

This was part of the Lateran Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Reconciliation.

This money was intended to compensate for the property of the Catholic Church confiscated during the unification of Italy into one nation, especially between 1860 and 1870.

About a quarter of the funds were used by Pope Pius XI to establish the modern Vatican State, erect the buildings of the Holy See, and provide housing for Vatican employees.

The remainder is invested with a diversified strategy to reduce risk.

Today, APSA has properties in Italy, Great Britain, France and Switzerland.

Buildings and land

Currently, the assets in the land holdings, along with the management of an investment portfolio of around 1,77 billion euros, generate profits for the maintenance of the Roman Curia, the Vatican's administrative body, APSA says.

In 2019, Pope Francis defended investing as a method to prevent capital from losing value.

"So that it can sustain itself or even make a little profit," he explained.

This is important because the Holy See, despite being supported by the Vatican State, is not a state in itself, Riccardi told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

It pays no taxes and declares no public debt, according to the Institute for Advanced Studies in Religious Finance (IHEFR).

She is supported by income from her own property and, above all, donations from the faithful.

However, the Vatican's annual profits and expenses are significantly underreported, and its total assets are twice as large as previously reported (around $4 billion), says the IHEFR.

The richest dioceses

The Archdiocese of Cologne in Germany is one of the richest branches of the church in the world.

Its revenue comes mainly from "kirchensteuer", a tax collected directly from registered members of religious communities recognized by the state, including the Catholic Church.

The church collected approximately $2023 billion in taxes in 7,4.

That was a drop of about five percent from the previous year, when $7,77 billion was raised, according to IHEFR.

Despite significant profits, the Church in Germany is concerned about a decline in its income as the number of registered believers declines.

This decline is partly due to an image crisis, such as the scandal with Bishop Franz-Peter Tebark van Elst in 2013.

The cost of building and maintaining his bishop's palace reportedly skyrocketed from $5,7 million to about $35 million over a five-year period.

In response to media pressure, half of Germany's 27 dioceses publicly disclosed their assets, which included 10 banks, insurance companies, 70 hotels, real estate firms and media outlets.

Church in America

The Church in the United States makes large contributions to the Vatican.

It owns various assets, including prestigious universities such as Notre Dame in Indiana (with reported profits of $1,76 billion) and Georgetown in Washington (with a reported profit of 1,92 billion), as well as a hospital and a school.

There is no mandatory tax on religion, but the Church receives significant private donations.

Brazil: The largest Catholic community in the world

Brazil is home to the largest Catholic population in the world.

The country has the largest and second most visited Marian temple in the world, National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida.

The Diocese of Aparecida says that 10 million pilgrims visit the temple each year, resulting in annual revenues of approximately $240 million in the city of just 35.000 residents.