United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

[jaxx]

<..> The USCCB adopted its current name in July 2001. The organization is a registered corporation based in Washington, D.C.. As with all bishops' conferences, certain[which?] decisions and acts of the USCCB must receive the recognitio, or approval of the Roman dicasteries, which are subject to the immediate and absolute authority of the Pope.

<..> In November 2004, the USCCB kicked off the National Pastoral Initiative for Marriage, a multi-year effort to promote traditional marriage values.

<..> The budget for 2011 is $180 million. Money is raised by assessing the individual dioceses.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stat...ic_Bishops

Interesting. The church taxes it's dioceses but won't pay taxes to the US.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

That's why my mom doesn't give shit to our diocese any more. They used to get 100 dollars a week, now nothin. I don't go to church so...

[jaxx]

The more I think about this it seems like the Vatican and the Pope, who has absolute authority, are running the show. The Vatican is a country unto itself. This is like a foreign country butting into the governing of the US, and spending money to influence the Congress of the US. Which means they need to butt out and go through diplomatic channels like the other foreign countries have to do.

[jaxx]

The Holy See (Latin: Sancta Sedes "holy chair") is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, in which its Bishop is the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic Church. It is also recognized by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained."[1][2]

Although it is often referred to as "the Vatican", the Holy See is not the same entity as the Vatican City State, which came into existence only in 1929; the Holy See, the episcopal see of Rome, dates back to early Christian times. Ambassadors are officially accredited not to the Vatican City State but to "the Holy See", and papal representatives to states and international organizations are recognized as representing the Holy See, not the Vatican City State.

Though all episcopal sees may be considered "holy", the expression "the Holy See" (without further specification) is normally used in international relations (and in the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church)[3] to refer to the See of Rome viewed as the central government of the Roman Catholic Church.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_See

[jaxx]

The Vatican City is a Country
Meets The Criteria for Independent Country Status

There are eight accepted criteria used to determine whether an entity is an independent country (also known as a State with a capital "s") or not.

Let us examine these eight criteria in regard to the Vatican City, a tiny (the smallest in the world) country located entirely within the city of Rome, Italy. The Vatican City is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, with over one billion adherents worldwide.

<..> Created in 1929 to provide a territorial identity for the Holy See in Rome, the State of the Vatican City is a recognized national territory under international law.

The Holy See maintains formal diplomatic relations with 174 nations and 68 of these countries maintain permanent resident diplomatic missions accredited to the Holy See in Rome. Most embassies are outside of the Vatican City and are Rome. The other countries have missions located outside Italy with dual accreditation. The Holy See maintains 106 permanent diplomatic missions to nation-states around the world.

<..> Thus, the Vatican City does meet all eight criteria for independent country status so we should consider it as an independent State.

http://geography.about.com/od/politicalg...ountry.htm

Uh huh.