There seems to be a misconception that the catholic church is just sitting on billions of dollars. But I don’t think that’s the case. I would suspect that the vast majority of that wealth is in land ownership from tens of thousands of parishes world wide (not to mention monasteries) , some of which are likely as historically significant as Notre Dame. These have to support the people who work there (the priests, bishops, monks, nuns, as well as various lay people, all of whom aren’t volunteers), but also the various works that they do, which generally includes needed programs like feeding the poor and homeless. A monastery that I live near (a trappist) does support itself somewhat, but some of their funding comes from the Vatican. This is a great place, which in part helps care for public lands, as well as host a green cemetery (which is open to all, not just catholics). They also allow any men to come and stay at the monastery for up to 6 months, again, open to all.
I also suspect that the church will indeed help with the rebuilding effort, but the situation in France is weird, in that the church and state are very well separated. The church itself is STATE PROPERTY. So maybe instead of depending on billionaires to rebuild, the state should be a major part of that effort. I would suspect that it’s one of the biggest tourist attractions.
If the church is going to sink some of it’s wealth into a public project, I’d much rather see that going to get rid of the predatory priests, and to give the victims recompense and help them pay for therapy for what they went through.
