How rich is the Church ? This is perhaps a question that everyone has asked themselves at least once in their life. And many others derive from it: does the Pope have a salary ? Who does the 8xmille money go to ? Why does the Church not pay the IMU ? Does the Vatican pay the bills? And the IOR ? What is hiding in there? Mimmo Muolo , Vatican expert and deputy head of the Roman editorial office of the CEI Avvenire newspaper, tries to answer these and many other similar questions in his interesting book The Money of the Church(Paoline). An unprecedented and very thorough investigation emerges that has the merit of clarifying and denying manyfake news that revolve around these issues. Often nourished also by those who are called to spread the ecclesial reality.
The money of the Church. Fabulous riches and evangelical poverty
“The money of the Church – writes Muolo – has always been talked about. Often out of turn . For a series of clichés, for ignorance of the fundamental data, for the residual will-o’-the-wisps of certain black legends, sometimes also for bad faith or premeditated desire to discredit. After all, sex and money are the sharpest weapons when you want to put an institution like the Church in a bad light, in particular the Catholic Church with its main exponents: the Pope, cardinals , bishops , but also many priests . , men and women religious “.
It is no coincidence that Muolo in his book starts from the lexicon because very often, for example, CEI and the Vatican are used as synonyms. “The Apostolic See – clarifies the Vatican expert – (or, if we want to use a more popular lexicon, even if not entirely exact, the Vatican) has nothing to do with the 8xmille, which is instead destined for the Church in Italy (according to its geographical articulations) and totally managed by it “. The journalist also states that “the ‘Vatican’ does not actually exist . On the other hand, there are very distinct realities on an institutional and juridical level, although intimately connected to each other through the person of the Pope: on the one hand we have the Catholic Church, on the other the Holy See or Apostolic See and the Vatican City State ”.
The Italian Church receives every year, thanks to the choices of taxpayers relating to the 8xmille of the Irpef , a figure that is around one billion euros. Money that is divided according to the three purposes established by the law: cult needs of the population, charity in Italy and in the third world and support for the clergy . “In 2013 – recalls Muolo – the journalist Giuseppe Rusconi published one of his volumes with a particularly interesting title and subtitle: The commitment. How the Italian Church accompanies society in everyday life. The author, in essence, attempted an original operation: starting from the calculation of how much the State gives to the Church through the 8xmille, in the book the ‘return’ calculation is also carried out, that is, how much the Church allows the State to save through his works and his business. And the result is truly amazing . In fact, according to the summary table at the bottom of the text, this figure can be quantified at 11 billion euros. In practice, 11 times more than the average of 8xmille per year ”.
And it is a reality today more than ever widely under the eyes of all. Just think, just to give a few examples, of charity in favor of many Italians who are unable to make it to the end of the month and of welcoming migrants. Without the precious help of many dioceses and parishesall this would be impossible.
In his book, Muolo tackles another burning problem. That is the question of the IMU. An issue that has come back to the fore after, in November 2018, a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union established that the European Commission was wrong at the time not to ask Italy to recover the Ici not paid by non-governmental entities . profit, including ecclesiastical bodies. For the journalist, “the doubt emerges more and more on the one hand that it was a sentence ‘an end in itself’, since among the calculations to be made, the impossibility of reconstructing past data, final prescriptions, political evaluations and so on, no one knows say with certainty how it can be applied, on the other hand that that pronouncement only served to rekindle old controversies, mystifying the real identity of the subjects involved (not just the Church) and actually causing damage to those who carry out activities of great social value with so much good will ”.
Muolo also dwells on the financial reforms implemented in Bergoglio ‘s pontificate and on his firm will to intensify the Church’s charitable policy. For the journalist, in fact, “it is necessary to carefully consider not only the income, but also the assets and above all the purposes for which the wealth, real or presumed, is used. The entire pontificate of Pope Francis is inspired precisely by this criterion. His ‘how much I would like a poor Church and for the poor’ is not a simple slogan or wishful thinking. Indeed, it has become a pastoral program for the whole Church and government action within the Holy See and the Vatican City ”.
