Last year the Catholic Church reportedly generated €1.23B ($1.45B) in income. Which is more than the GDP of 10-13 poorest countries in the world, depending on which source you use.

Donations accounted for €237M ($279M) and are the Church’s largest source of income.

It also had a budget deficit lately, until last year. Overall it’s pretty rich, but not nearly as rich as a lot of companies are and as some people would think.

It should also be noted that Pope Leo has been pope for less than a year, which isn’t exactly a whole lot of time to completely reform the Church and rid it of corruption. Assuming that’s at all possible, since the Catholic Church has been corrupt pretty much since the moment it was founded. I’m not saying he will ever do that or that he even wants to. However, so far he’s been a lot better than last few popes, so let’s give him some time.

Sources:

• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-27/vatican-budget-records-first-surplus-in-years/106072054
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
• https://companiesmarketcap.com/most-profitable-companies/

Very nice. Can’t wait for them to make a map how to find it next.

Yuzu, Citrus.

Still cis though.

He’s been rejected by everybody he’s ever met. That’s probably why he’s a rapist and a predator.

Use it for the time being and never buy an iphone again.

Or by mirroring his content to other video sharing platforms like LBRY/Odysee or Peertube. It requires little effort, seems to be risk free, and lays the foundation to migrate from YouTube at some point in the future.

I’m a little puzzled why a lot of creators don’t do this, especially ones who criticize YouTube so much and promote self hosting.

Trans people 🏳️‍⚧️

Are you suggesting Russia is less corrupt?

Absolutely not. As a European, I don’t consider Russia as part of Europe in terms of geopolitics.

According to a corruption perceptions index someone linked (idk how reliable), Russia is almost at the bottom of the list, so it’d probably be top 1 in Europe.

You are perfectly welcome to contribute your input, if you have any. Preferably without insinuations or insults, as I’d expect from a well educated person.

I don’t know about top 5, but top 3 would probably consist of Belarus, Hungary and Ukraine, in this order.

We usually think that Ukraine isn’t severely corrupt, just because it’s western-aligned. But that’s not what corruption means.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just because Ukraine is the victim in a conflict. It’s one of the top 3 most corrupt countries on the entire European continent, and sadly, the war only made it worse.

Of course, we should be treating Ukraine as a potential long-term ally and partner, and helping it defend as well as rebuild itself. However, we cannot ignore its shortcomings. At this point, the Ukrainian government has practically full reign over everything in the country with no oversight at any level.

Some of it can be blamed on the war, maybe. But absolutely not all of it. Not even half. Corruption is a long running issue in Ukraine, which we should be helping it with, probably after the war ends. If Ukraine wants help, of course. Or if it wants to join the EU, in which case it’d be non-negotiable.

There’s a stark difference between Chinese propaganda and information about positive things in China.

You can post about good aspects of the Chinese society without mentioning the government, let alone glorifying it. Same goes for the USA. If I post that I like American national parks, does that constitute American propaganda? Are we only allowed to hate on those two countries?

Just because the Chinese model is incompatible with the European or American ones, doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can learn from it.