The Vatican has an annual operating budget of under $300 million, while Harvard University, arguably the Vatican of elite secular opinion, has a budget of $3.7 billion, meaning it’s ten times greater. The Vatican’s “patrimony,” what other institutions would call an endowment, is around $1 billion. In this case, Harvard’s ahead by a robust factor of thirty, with an endowment of $30.7 billion.
Challenges to vision of a ‘Poor Church for the Poor’ | National Catholic Reporter. Thanks to @pegobry on Twitter for the link. You can think about this two ways. One is, Wow, the Vatican is not as wealthy as I thought. The other is, I knew Harvard was rich, but this is ridiculous.