Does the Vatican have more in assets than Switzerland has in stolen money stored in their banking systems?

Question

I do know that there was a very large train filled with valuables of the Jews that they sent off that the US military got ahold of and just recently began giving back and that the Natzi Regime and Hitler etc. were purported to have stored wealth of the Jews in Swiss banks which refuse to distribute it out to the Jews also many thefts in the US such a a friend of mines parents who had an accountant who was imprisoned and cannot get a passport to travel now that he is finally out who stole all of his many clients money and stashed it in a Swiss bank cannot reclaim it from Switzerland so I was just wondering who was richer I guess I did not ask that question exactly right who has more assets as Switzerland has money/assets no one can claim that was stolen also.

Excellent answers too bad I cannot select both and they are so good I am going to put these up for a vote.

Answer 1

To answer this seriously, you need to look at two quantities:
* Stolen money held in banks in Switzerland
* Overall wealth of the Vatican

First, you'd have to quantify how much of the money maintained in Switzerland is actually stolen. Other than proceeds from the assassination of JFK, I can imagine there's probably some local deposits, you know the Swiss might use their own banks.

As far as The Vatican, do you mean Vatican City, or the entirety of the Roman Catholic Church? And to consider assets, are you talking only cash assets, liquid assets, or perhaps including all fixed assets such as buildings, receivables from donations (less payables for charitable causes and operating expenses), and finally collections of art and the value of information held in the recesses of the libraries?

I think the bulk of the monetary value of the Church as an institution is maintained in buildings and art, which makes the question difficult - you don't know how much something is worth until you actually sell it, ie you've allowed the market to operate.

One of the things that irks me is when people complain about the value of their house depreciating because prices are going down - it doesn't impact you until you decide to sell it, or at least borrow against it; until that time, an appreciated house only means a higher property tax bill. But I digress.

So really I think this is more an identification issue; but to play the less cynical angle (that Swiss bank accounts contain mostly legit transactions), I'd say the Vatican has more in assets of all types, and Switzerland holds very little in stolen funds relative to the bank system's scope.

Answer 2

Sure. The Vatican is so rich they have their own city. AS it has been around for centuries, their coppers are overflowing. With the vow of celibacy of all its priests, they don't have to share their wealth to their respective families. Plus, the expenditure to run the government is low. Their overhead is minimal. Yes, they definitely have more assets and wealth.