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I am once again asking you to remember that the Roman Catholic Church is not a company and it does not operate with a single budget or payroll. https://twitter.com/ap/status/1281474787857043456
Having said that, I think that the Church is often quite bad at explaining its financial affairs. It’s one area where a more corporate approach (ie one of transparency) would be beneficial.
The Church is, of course the largest non-governmental source of education and healthcare in the world. But that does very little to dispel the enduring perception that bishops are lining their pockets with the offerings of the faithful.
And I don’t know what we do about that. My perception is that people aren’t really angry about the Church’s artistic heritage (see, eg Notre Dame), but they are angry at what they believe to be a Church that has allowed corruption and evil to flourish with impunity
And again (please let it be known that I have been saying this for a long time), I think it is because the Church has not covered itself in glory when it comes to apologising and atoning for the great sin of sexual abuse. Frankly, they’ve not done enough.
BASICALLY, I think that for a lot of people, the Church has forfeited the moral authority to claim this money, even if it could legally do so. This is probably especially true in the US, where there is a nominal church/state separation, and where >
churches are not subject to discrimination legislation in the same way as in, eg the UK
