It’s an old conservative scare-mongering line that’s really cemented itself in the cultural consciousness - the idea that the pope is an absolute ruler and all catholics must do as he says was spread around (well, throughout all of history but specifically in the US) to turn people against JFK, a catholic. We can’t have a catholic president, that’ll put the pope in charge of the country!!
Reality is that the pope has a shitload of soft power and could start to implement reparations least at some level (and yeah, utterly dick move not to have done that, Frank…). Broad picture, canon law is beyond arcane and there’s plenty of restrictions on the actual “money spending” powers of the papacy. The requirement for charity is probably the biggest one, but there’s also the requirements for upkeep of the various shrines/churches/sites(?)/the holy see (obvs) as well as having to provide support for the many many agents of the church.
It’s an old conservative scare-mongering line that’s really cemented itself in the cultural consciousness - the idea that the pope is an absolute ruler and all catholics must do as he says was spread around (well, throughout all of history but specifically in the US) to turn people against JFK, a catholic. We can’t have a catholic president, that’ll put the pope in charge of the country!!
Reality is that the pope has a shitload of soft power and could start to implement reparations least at some level (and yeah, utterly dick move not to have done that, Frank…). Broad picture, canon law is beyond arcane and there’s plenty of restrictions on the actual “money spending” powers of the papacy. The requirement for charity is probably the biggest one, but there’s also the requirements for upkeep of the various shrines/churches/sites(?)/the holy see (obvs) as well as having to provide support for the many many agents of the church.