I'm posting a link to this article by Zenit in order to underscore some of the charity the Vatican distributes. Peter's Pence is a special collection of money dedicated to helping poor people around the world. Here's an excerpt:
In 2005, donations amounted to $59,441,654.64, an increase of 14.95% compared to the previous year.
Papal charity
The Holy Father allocated these resources to charitable endeavors to express the Apostolic See's and the universal Church's closeness to the populations of several countries hit by disasters such as floods, famine, war and illnesses.
The Holy Father also used these funds to support numerous initiatives of Third World ecclesial communities, oriented to human promotion and assistance to the poorest local Churches.
Some people have this crazy idea that the Church doesn't hand out any charity at all...that it's a big organization bent on accumulating wealth, as if the cardinals sign up to become the next Bill Gates.
In related news, here's a Zenit article on the Vatican's financial statement. I'm a bit miffed the overall budget amount was not stated, but as you can see, the numbers, relative to large-scale corporations, are fairly small. I once heard the Vatican runs on a budget of about 300 million a year.
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