Religious Leaders Amass Wealth as Well as Power

Church establishment and hierarchies, it seems, have always been pretty good at attracting to themselves a lot of power and material possessions.

In ancient Egypt, the high priest wielded a lot of power. During the so-called Intermediary Period, when Egypt was divided into a northern and southern kingdom, a ruler of the North, Psusennes, was able to be very powerful by becoming High Priest as well as Pharaoh.

In the century or two before about the year 1000, the Vikings attacked and pillaged the monasteries in the north of England. Presumably the monasteries had sufficient wealth to tempt the Vikings to rob them.

In 1536, King Henry VIII of England dissolved the monasteries of England. Among other reasons he had was to seize the monks' wealth.

Throughout later centuries in Europe, the Church had staggering wealth and power. Church leaders were also temporal rulers. Look at the monastery of Melk in Austria, with its fabulous, gilded, Baroque rooms.

Today, the Vatican has enormous wealth. It is known to be a big stockholder in the Italian economy. The truth is, no one knows the magnitude of the wealth of the Vatican because it simply refuses to reveal any numbers.

Copyright (c) 2011 by Richard Stein