Pope Francis, the ‘son of immigrants’ has sent a stern message to churches that misuse their tax-exempt status, refuse to accept refugees, instead make money off their properties.
“Some religious orders say, ‘No, now that the convent is empty we are going to make a hotel and we can have guests and support ourselves that way, or make money’. Well, if that is what you do, then pay taxes! A religious school is tax-exempt because it is religious, but if it is functioning as a hotel, then it should pay taxes just like its neighbor. Otherwise it is not fair business,” Pope Francis told Portugal’s Radio Renascença.
The Pope, who is taking in two refugee families at the Vatican “as long as the Lord wants”, quoted Moses who said to his people – “Welcome the foreigner, because you also were a foreigner in the land of Egypt” – to put his point across that “if a refugee arrives, despite all the safety precautions, we must welcome him, because this is a commandment from the Bible”.
Stop being a paedophile, Help the poor or church should pay tax, evolution is real. A trinity of reasons why the current Pope is amazing
— Lampaert O.G. (@EricLampaert) September 17, 2015
In Rome, a pensione operated by an order of nuns just outside St. Peter’s Square, offers a room, breakfast, and Mass at 7 a.m. each day for $90 a night. They also rent their rooftop to CBS during major papal events. In Italy, the Church owns more than 100,000 buildings with an estimated worth exceeding $10 billion. In America, it is estimated that churches would generate $83.5 billion in annual tax revenue if the exemption was lifted on their $600 billion in untaxed properties.
#PopeFrancis says end the tax exempt status of churches that don’t help the needy. This Pope is gonna make me start going to church again. — Darian Brasher (@darianbrasher) September 16, 2015
The Pope also blasted what he called “a bad and unjust socioeconomic system” in the early 21st century that he faults for Europe’s current refugee crisis. “These poor people are fleeing war, hunger, but that is the tip of the iceberg. Because underneath that is the cause; and the cause is a bad and unjust socioeconomic system, in everything, in the world – speaking of the environmental problem – in the socioeconomic society, in politics, the person always has to be in the centre.
“That is the dominant economic system nowadays; it has removed the person from the centre, placing the god money in its place, the idol of fashion. There are statistics, I don’t remember precisely, (I might have this wrong), but that 17% of the world’s population has 80% of the wealth,” he added.
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