As some U.S. dioceses face financial crisis, Vatican has own problems

Published: 2004-07-09

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., filed for bankruptcy in early July, some people wondered why the Vatican didn't bail it out. The head of a sex abuse victims group in Portland said the Vatican needs to "sell a few paintings if they think they can't afford to pay for this." The archdiocese had been hit hard by sex abuse settlements totaling more than $50 million. But the Vatican is highly unlikely to start selling its paintings or statues in order to rescue a diocese from financial ruin. The Vatican does not see its role as that of overseeing diocesan budgets or financial crises. And besides, the Vatican doesn't think it's rich. "I wish we were. If we had so much money, we wouldn't have to go around holding out our hands to the world's dioceses," said Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, head of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See. As for selling part of its artistic patrimony, the cardinal dismissed the idea, saying the works are not the kind one could put on the market. "The Vatican's paintings have no commercial value. There are a lot of fables about the riches of the Vatican ... but the reality is much more prosaic," he said at a Vatican press conference July 8.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .