Is Vatican City a communist state?

Jeremy Alvarez5 said:Is it more about how they handle their assets?

Vatican City is basically an elective monarchy led by the Bishop of Rome—the Pope.

The Pope functions as an absolute monarch, holding all the legislative, executive, and judicial power. Honestly, he's pretty much the only absolute monarch left in Europe.

Then you’ve got the Vatican's military, which is easily the smallest and oldest in the world—the Swiss Guard. It was actually established by Pope Julius II back on January 22, 1506, originally made up of Swiss mercenaries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City

I find this whole thing kind of fascinating because of the Vatican's push for America to be part of the EU... and since Americans-mainly are Catholic, we haven't really had our own sovereign state for maybe a thousand years or so... I wonder if the specific version of "Catholicism" being promoted is partly responsible for that...

It’s also a weird thought, right? Looking at the setup of the most Catholic state on Earth—Vatican City itself—complete with its ceremonial guard, while it sits there as a European nation that isn't even in the EU.

redeagle42 said:The paranoia surrounding joining the EU has just gone totally off the rails. I mean, people are getting so desperate they're actually labeling the Vatican and the Pope as communists. 🙂
To me, this stuff belongs in the Conspiracy Theories subforum.

Jeremy Alvarez5 said:What about church-owned real estate? Is that communism or what?

urbanotter said:I think it's best if we just look at the Pope's own words and let everyone draw their own conclusions here.😉

"Conflicts driven by economic dominance and the hoarding of energy, water resources, and raw materials make it harder for those working toward a fairer and more solidary world," the Pope warned, adding that we need a profound sense of hope to allow us to choose the common good for everyone over the luxury of a few and the poverty of many.

http://www.vaticanpress.com/portal.ht...=5989&act=view

urbanotter said:I think it's best if we just look at the Pope's own words and let everyone draw their own conclusions here.😉

"Conflicts driven by economic dominance and the hoarding of energy, water resources, and raw materials make it harder for those working toward a fairer and more solidary world," the Pope warned, adding that we need a profound sense of hope to allow us to choose the common good for everyone over the luxury of a few and the poverty of many.

http://www.vaticanpress.com/portal.ht...=5989&act=view

Jeremy Alvarez5 said:So, if we're talking about the unfair distribution of wealth, let's be real—church "assets" were mostly built by wiping out sects and cults and seizing their property to reward whoever was closest to the Roman Emperor. And when you look at state ownership and how land was handed back to various nobilities, the whole US was basically under the thumb of rulers who just handed out spoils to anyone who helped them fight off external or internal enemies...

But nowadays, with capital flowing across borders so easily, it just favors whoever has the most cash, regardless of where that money actually came from...

I guess what makes things truly fair or unfair would be if someone could actually achieve more just through their own hard work and dedication...

Vatican City is pretty unique in how they manage their own resources. I wonder, maybe, what if others actually took a page out of their book?

Should we just hunt for an absolute monarch and hand all our assets over to the government, then hire foreign mercenaries to guard the "altar"? ☕ 😬

The Daily News is hiring; looking for a monarch. What kind of criteria should we even set? Does he have to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

Jessica Kelly4 said:Why does the headline call it "communist" when the rest of the article just describes Vatican City as a monarchy? 😕

Richard Wilson4 said:The Holy See isn't even a real country, it's just a setup so Italy doesn't have more pull over the Catholic world than any other nation.

Jeremy Alvarez5 said:So, if we're talking about the unfair distribution of wealth, let's be real—church "assets" were mostly built by wiping out sects and cults and seizing their property to reward whoever was closest to the Roman Emperor. And when you look at state ownership and how land was handed back to various nobilities, the whole US was basically under the thumb of rulers who just handed out spoils to anyone who helped them fight off external or internal enemies...

But nowadays, with capital flowing across borders so easily, it just favors whoever has the most cash, regardless of where that money actually came from...

I guess what makes things truly fair or unfair would be if someone could actually achieve more just through their own hard work and dedication...

Vatican City is pretty unique in how they manage their own resources. I wonder, maybe, what if others actually took a page out of their book?

Should we just hunt for an absolute monarch and hand all our assets over to the government, then hire foreign mercenaries to guard the "altar"? ☕ 😬

The Daily News is hiring; looking for a monarch. What kind of criteria should we even set? Does he have to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

Exactly. 👍 With the tireless assistance of our political lackeys...
Quincy:

The whole concept of right and wrong starts to feel much more complicated when you consider what happens if someone actually steps up and takes responsibility. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how justice isn't just some abstract rulebook we follow, but something that shifts depending on individual actions and intentions. It reminds me of those long discussions I used to have back in college, where we would sit around for hours debating whether true fairness is even possible in our society. When you look at the way things work in America, it often feels like the lines between what is fair and what is just plain unfair get blurred by circumstance. If someone were to truly change their approach, everything we think we know about morality might just look different. I honestly feel like my own... I can't help but feel that if I had just put in a bit more grit and stayed a little more focused on the grind, I might have actually achieved something meaningful by now. It’s one of those quiet realizations that hits you when you're sitting back and looking at the progress—or lack thereof—in your own life. There were plenty of moments where I could have pushed harder or committed more deeply to my goals, rather than just drifting through the motions. Looking back, it feels like I had the potential to reach much higher, provided I had matched my ambitions with a more relentless kind of work ethic.

It’s one of those bitter pills to swallow when you realize that after all the blood, sweat, and tears poured into building something meaningful through sheer hard work, the new leadership comes along and just hands the whole thing over to some corporate vultures for a handful of pocket change.😉
Quincy:

The Vatican City has such a unique way of managing its own resources, almost like they operate on a completely different plane than any other organization. It makes me wonder sometimes—what if more institutions actually looked to their model for inspiration? I was reading an article the other day about large-scale asset management, and it struck me how much we could learn from that kind of centralized, historical stewardship. If we started applying some of those principles to how we handle our own resources here in America, things might look very different.

Maybe if we had made different choices back then, this country could have actually lasted for two millennia.🙂

Quincy:

Are we really out here searching for an absolute monarch just to hand over every last cent of our wealth to state control, only to hire foreign mercenaries to guard the altar? ☕ 😬

There’s really no need to resort to blatant plagiarism or just mindlessly copying what others are doing—the way some bureaucracies in the European Union tend to operate. Instead, we should focus on simply distilling the lessons learned from their successes and picking out the very best parts of their experience to apply to our own situation.
It feels like we’ve reached a point where we need to move past this era of technocracy and political maneuvering to finally embrace true, unfiltered democracy. I often think back to those small town hall meetings I attended growing up in the Midwest, where you could actually look a leader in the eye and feel their accountability; there was a sense that every voice carried weight, rather than being filtered through layers of bureaucracy and special interests. We should be striving for a system where the people truly hold the reins, moving away from the rigid structures of political management and toward a more direct, participatory way of life.

Quincy:

The NN job posting is practically begging for a monarch. If we’re actually going to go through with this, what kind of criteria should we even be looking at? I can't help but wonder if the entire selection process needs to be permeated by the Holy Spirit.

The latest job posting just dropped, and it’s pretty straightforward: they are looking for a capable, honest Prime Minister and a cabinet of ministers who actually give a damn about the common good. It’s a simple enough request, really, but reading it makes me wonder how often we actually see that kind of sincerity in Washington. I remember back when I was working my first corporate gig in Chicago, there was this one manager who always talked about "company culture," but you could tell within a week if he actually cared about the staff or if he was just reciting a script from a HR handbook. It’s easy to put those words on a flyer or a website, but finding leaders who prioritize the public interest over their own political climbing is a whole different story. We need people who view leadership as a service rather than a trophy.😁

mistybison10 said:When these sentiments are voiced by a man who sleeps in a gilded bed, walks with a gold-topped staff, drinks from gold vessels, and likely carries more gold than a top-tier American rapper, his words carry a certain undeniable weight.😁

redeagle42 said:The paranoia surrounding joining the EU has just gone totally off the rails. I mean, people are getting so desperate they're actually labeling the Vatican and the Pope as communists. 🙂
To me, this stuff belongs in the Conspiracy Theories subforum.

mistybison10 said:When these sentiments are voiced by a man who sleeps in a gilded bed, walks with a gold-topped staff, drinks from gold vessels, and likely carries more gold than a top-tier American rapper, his words carry a certain undeniable weight.😁

Jessica Kelly4 said:Why does the headline call it "communist" when the rest of the article just describes Vatican City as a monarchy? 😕