Accumulation and misuse of religious property
Nature
The possession of land, investments, and other assets by the Church may involve its administration along similar lines to that of a commercial enterprise. Much Church property is provided by donation and it therefore seems exploitative and corrupt that it should be used on any other basis than for social need and welfare. Donation to Church funds may contribute to persistent poverty, since some of the most ardent benefactors are the poor and uneducated.
Background
The question of possession of property has caused religious schism since the Reformation.
Incidence
Tenants have been evicted from Church owned housing for not paying rents, despite poverty and with no provision of alternative accommodation.
Counter-claim
An error of modernism identified by the belief that: The Church has no innate and legitimate right of acquiring and possessing property. (Papal Allocution, Nunquam Fore, 15 December, 1856; Encyclical Incredibili, 7 September 1863).
Aggravates
Value(s)
Reference(s)
Type
(E) Emanations of other problems