Religion
In reply to the discussion: Francis to faithful: Give up your riches to help the poor [View all]Deep13
(39,156 posts)The Pope is the ruler of his own nation state within the city the Rome. The Papal palace is enormous at over 160,000 sq. ft. of interior space compared to the 55,000 sq. ft. footprint of the White House. The President has to account for everything publicly and depends on Congressional authorization. The President really does not have much public property for his personal use and cannot keep it when he leaves sometime around noon, Jan. 20, 2017. Popes usually die in office. JP2 was there for decades. Also, the President is not pretending to live a spiritual, Christian life free from materialism.
But that's not really the point. The real point is the vast wealth of the RC Church in the form of real estate and artwork is not really being used for their purported mission.