Many are confused when it comes to the Church and the issue of money. It is not true that the Vatican is awash in cash and thus hypocritical for criticizing materialism, uncontrolled capitalism, and excessive wealth.

While our Church certainly has invaluable art, plus vast land holdings (witness St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in New York), they are not disposable wealth; they are not for expenditure; the current Pope lives in what amounts to a dorm room (the majority of those reading this have a bedroom far more appointed) and John Paul II's sleeping quarters, despite location in the papal apartments, were equally spare: a dresser and single bed and table (he often slept on the floor, the was less ornate than many who are officially categorized in the U.S. as impoverished).

It is a myth that the Vatican is super-wealthy. The Vatican often runs at an annual budgetary loss ($19 million in the red in 2011), and has an operating budget that's one tenth that of Harvard University -- a single university -- and less than a fourth a Catholic university like Notre Dame (which operates independent of Rome).

While the Vatican City State -- which includes the famous museums -- operated at a $21 million surplus one recent year, the art there -- priceless though it is -- "can never be sold but is kept for the benefit of humankind and requires millions of dollars to maintain and restore," notes one Vatican reporter. It is not a liquid asset.

"Though the Vatican Museum collects entry fees, that money is used to defray the mammoth maintenance and restoration costs."

Our Church runs more charities and hospitals than any other entity on the planet and often contributes to nations that have suffered disasters.

Have there been abuses? Of course. Humans work at places such as its bank. There have been abuses in dioceses (take the bishop from Germany who was recently chastised for building an opulent mansion). Many cardinals, bishops, and priests could tone down their lifestyles. Those who are living a bit too luxuriously should hear from us (the current Pope even encourages the laity to write them notes).

But financial abuses are not common.

And hypocritical the Church is not.

What does it say about money?

John Paul II once said that without God, capitalism and socialism are equally evil (Benedict also made the same point, though both railed against the Marxist form of socialism, which is exactly that -- Godless).

"Catholic social doctrine is not a surrogate for capitalism," the great John Paul stated in Centesimus Annus (42). "In fact, although decisively condemning 'socialism' the Church, since Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, has always distanced itself from capitalistic ideology, holding it responsible for grave social injustices. In Quadragesimo Anno Pius XI, for his part, used clear and strong words to stigmatize the international imperialism of money. This line is also confirmed in the more recent magisterium, and I myself, after the historical failure of communism, did not hesitate to raise serious doubts on the validity of capitalism, if by this expression one means not simply the 'market economy' but 'a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality.'"

"The free market is the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs," John Paul II said. "But there are many human needs which find no place on the market," he immediately added, and many people without the purchasing power to meet their needs through the market. 

We are meant to take what we have, sustain our families, and seek the good of society with what is left, is the philosophy of Catholicism.

Benedict XVI agreed.

Said that conservative Pontiff: "Telling the Parable of the dishonest but very crafty administrator, Christ teaches his disciples the best way to use money and material riches, that is, to share them with the poor, thus acquiring their friendship, with a view to the Kingdom of Heaven. 'Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon,' Jesus says, 'so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations' (Luke 16: 9)." Many would be astonished to know that the Church has long taught -- since the Middle Ages, if not before -- that a store or company should sell an item with a price based: on the material and the actual cost of labor and no more.

The Church has long condemned "usury" -- defined as charging any interest on a loan.

When Mary has appeared, it has usually been to peasants (see Lourdes; see LaSalette; see Juan Diego; see Fatima). At the approved site of Kibeho her main message warned of materialism.

"Catholic social doctrine has always supported that equitable distribution of goods is a priority. Naturally, profit is legitimate and, in just measure, necessary for economic development. Starvation and ecological emergencies stand to denounce, with increasing evidence, that the logic of profit, if it prevails, increases the disproportion between rich and poor and leads to a ruinous exploitation of the planet. Spiritual powers are themselves a factor in the economy: the market rules function only when a moral consensus exists and sustains them." (See his "Market Economy and Ethics.")