For the most part, Raggytash, what I say is true. Dioceses and religious orders have a lot of wealth tied up in buildings, and many have filed bankruptcy. The area of contention is about the endowment of the Vatican, a multi-billion-dollar stock portfolio built on reparations that Italy paid for the loss of the Papal States. The Vatican is supported by the earnings from that portfolio, which makes it financially independent - and as I said before, it means that it is no longer the political pawn of wealthy interests that it was when it was kicked around among the Spanish, French, and Italians. I would think that forfeiting that portfolio would make the Vatican dependent on the wealthy American interests that have such a powerful (and conservative) effect on the Catholic Church in the United States.
-Joe-