Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-26
Losses Never Made Up.

Losses Never Made Up.
Leo XIII was never able to make up the
losses caused by the speculations of Mgr.
Folchf, disbursing agent and manager of
the pontifical finances.
The trouble occurred during the cyclone
of speculation that swept over Rome fifteen
or twenty years ago. when hundreds Of
rich families of the old Roman aristocracy
lost everything by investing their fortunes
in real estate operations. by loanne thelr
funds al usuriouS rates OF interest ana by
purchasing the shares of mushroom banks
and building associations which promised
unrea sonable profits. Mgr. Folchi and the
cardinals of the curfa caught the fever. ana
Yielded to the temptation to secure II ana
II per cent for the church. instead ot3 ana
per cent which the investments were then
paving. With the consent OF Leo Kill ana
the approval of the cardinals composing me
finance committee, Mgr. Folchi bought
stocks of wildcat banks and mortgages OF
building companies and loaned several
million dollars to princes of the church VINO
were conducting large real estate enter
prises.
When the crash came and the finance
committee settled a very complicated state
of affairs it was discovered that the perma-
neDt fund of the holy see, which had
amounted to 100000 francs at the death
of Plus TX had been reduced to 4o,oOo,oco
francs and committee OF lay business
men whom the pope called as advlsers al
re-
suited them before deposited it in the Bank
of England until 1t could be invested III
English. French and American securlties.
Leo XIII pledged himself to restore thls
fund which is regarded as the sacred pa
trimony of ST Peter. but since 1870, when
the revenues from the papal states We're CUT
on the pope has been compelled 10 depend
entirely upon the contributions OF refer
pence and gifts from private individuals,
which have not increased to any degree,
hut during the last three years have Iaheh
of considerably. so that his revenues nave
not been more than suff1clent 10 pay .ite
necessary expenses OF the vatican, which
average about s1,5000oo per annum-
The Papal Revenues.
The expulsion of the religious orders
from France has been a severe blow to the
Vatican from a financial point Of view, be-
cause most of them were rich and derived
large sums from industrial enterprises and
investments from which they contributor
literally 10 the papaI treasury. Since their
expulsion two years ago these Contribu-
tons have been almost entirely cut on, ana
the members of the French nobility ana ar;
tocracy have been so much dissatlshed with
the policy of Leo XIII in continuing ms
support OF the republic that they have re-
fused To give anything
Thus France, which has formerly fur
nished nearly one-half of the papal reve-
nues has dropped to the fourth place. Al
though the religious orders of Spain are
very rich they give nothing. the recep-s
from that country are smaller than from
the little Protestant republic OF SwitZer-
land Belgium gives more than Austria, al
though the latter empire is supposed TO ce
the mainstay of the church. while down.
trodden Ireland. with all its poverty. con-
tributes more to the treasury OF the church
than all the nations of Europe. except
France, combined Ireland gives almost as
much as the United States. There is a
close rivalry between the two countries
10 first Mace the LIST. LIZ II
not for them the holy see would be bank
rupt. Yet neither Ireland nor the United
States has anything to say about the NM
agement OF affairs and they are not even
represented at Rome
Italy which contributes practically moth
ing and controls everything, has thirty
seven cardinals. Ireland and the United
States have only one each. The Italians
declare with some truth that they are COM
PEELED to support large number of priests
and monks. This is not true so far as the
priests are concerned for the secular clergy
are paid by the government. The only
church in Rome supported entirely from the
funds of the Vatican is st. Peters, of
which Cardinal Rampolla is archpriest. ST.
John Lateran of which Cardinal Satolli Is
pastor. and Santa Maria Maggiore, of
which Cardinal Vanutelli is pastor. receive
considerable amount from the govern
ment treasury. which pays nearly one-half
of their expenses. But there Is doubt
that the regular clergy, the monastic
orders called, are a burden upon the
Italian people. and they are increasing rap
idly in numbers. According to the directory
for 1903, there are sixty eight monasteries,
IDS nunneries and 1852 churches In Rome.
Upon the dissolution OF the relations be-
tween church and state, the Italian parlia-
ment made a grant of $4,000 year 10 the
holy see as indemnity for the property OF
the church that was confiscated, but nei-
Their Plus TX nor Leo XIII was willing to
accept il. and the money Is supposed to
have been accommodating in the italian treas
ury for nearly thirty years.
Discussing Church Funds.
The pope is absolutely Independent re
garding the disposition of the church funds.
He is responsible to nobody exceSt his own
conscience. and his dsbursing officer. who
is usually priest of high rank, Is respon-
sible to none but him. II has been custom
airy to have q committee of cardinals To re-