How will Benedict XVI survive financially

The income is ancillary to everything. He will be living in the papal retreat and will devote himself to his final days. I doubt he'll taking too many cruises, going to the mall, or traveling at all. Instead he will assume the life of a simple priest and enjoy a quiet winter of his life.

 

Benedict is in such poor health that he can hardly walk at times and has been banned medically from long flights. My friend says he is blind in one eye but I have not read that. So his life will be like one in an assisted living facility for the well-to-do. With such poor health and having to live in the Vatican, the money will not mean much to him. I myself would like neither to be a Catholic nor to be a Catholic priest. And I myself imagine that life in the Vatican is very confining and boring. At his age, there probably is no one left at home in Germany so that he cannot even return to his native land.

The Pope historically lived like a king and had an income from land that he owned in the Papal States of Italy. The Italian government, as you know, gave the Vatican some small amount of money for the lands that they took. They got the money about a hundred years ago. Recently the Vatican has been running a deficit of 5 million dollars a year but no one knows exactly how much cash they have in the Vatican Bank--a few billion dollars. All that art, etc., that they have is somewhat attached to the buildings or part of the cultural heritage of Italy, so that it cannot be reasonably sold and is an expense except that people pay admission to the collections. Huge old buildings like they have must have terrific maintenance costs and no one would build buildings like that anymore. They also have terrible security costs as they have a well-armed and trained security force there. The whole complex is a medieval nightmare of high overhead and extravagance that they don't seem to be able to back away from. They believe that they have the bones of the Apostle Peter in the basements as the complex was built on a burial ground that takes its name from the Etruscan goddess of the dead--Vatika. They are convinced that Peter was crucified there because Constantine built a church there.

It is their financial problem to solve. I don't suppose that they have a mortgage to pay off so the expense is day-to-day operation. They seem incapable of reforming their theology. They need to rescind Trent.

I would guess that his pension and benefits are worth about 20 to 30 thousand a month. Certainly, that makes him about the highest paid retired clergyman in the world, but there may be a couple of clergymen with private wealth who have more.

 

It does sound as if this frail old man wants a room and board, where he can offer the Mass, pray and enjoy a few buddies round for a drink, a cat, his music and his books.

For all we know under his soutane he may wear rags. It is certainly the case with some priests I know, as I was housekeeping for a while.

I pray his retirement is one of spiritual comfort.

 

Hi! What is life like in New Zealand?

I think that Benedict will not appear in public once his rooms have been remodeled in the Vatican and he moves back there.

It is interesting that they believe that they have the bones of the Apostle Peter. The case seems good.

As for the Vatican compound itself, an old English saying is "All that glisters is not gold."

PS: The History Channel in 2011 televised a program called Secret Access: The Vatican. Someone has put it on YouTube (of course):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCGoyuo8_Wo

 

Life in NZ is wonderful, the good Lord woke me up bright and early the other morning for early daily Mass with an earthquake!!!

The rooms for the abdicated pope will be within Vatican City but not in the papal residence itself, or so I understand. I am uncertain how to title him, as he is not to return to his former title of Cardinal Ratzinger, it is not a common occurence anyway:tongue3:.

He could always fly out to NZ for a holiday, though I suspect his health will not allow it..

 

Thanks for writing! Hope the earthquake didn't do any damage. We have had two or three little ones here in Indy in the last 30 years. They are like a big heavy truck going down the street and rattling everything.

The tv here said that Benedict will be called Pope Emeritus.

If you have an hour and a half, watch the YouTube on the Vatican. Before World War II, they were trying to fix a tomb when they found what they think are the bones of Peter. It is very interesting. There is good reason to believe that Peter was crucified on Vatican Hill in ancient Rome about 64 AD. Certainly that the Vatican commemorates that location. They have extensive records but Napoleon dragged them to Paris and it was too expensive to ship them back to Rome so many were discarded, burnt, or sold for scrap. They still have been unable to determine what they have exactly even after all this time.

 

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