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The pope recieves no salary, but from what I understand, popes do have some personal possessions. A personal possesion is something that you own. For example, Pope Benedict XVI, I believe, had a substantial library of books that he brought with him into the Papal Apartments.

Of course, enumerating everything a certain pope has ever owned is impossible and not very useful. But presumably we can know what sort of personal possessions a typical pope has at a typical point in time. This would shed some light on the daily life of the pope, and might clear up some misconceptions regarding the personal wealth of popes.

Pope John Paul II is the most recent deceased pope, and served as pope for a comparatively long time. The time of death is a unique and definite point, and there are probably objective records of these remaining possessions. Some of those personal possessions might eventually be "relics", and these are important to Catholics.

What personal possessions did Pope John Paul II have at the time of death?

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In his last will and testament he wrote:

I leave no possessions of which it will be necessary to dispose

However, he seems to have an "estate" in poland, which has been given for use as low income housing:

Osiedle administracyjne IV im. Jana Pawła II w Ostrowie Wielkopolskim – osiedle administracyjne położone we wschodniej części miasta. Liczy ok. 18 tys. mieszkańców. Obejmuje południową część Krępy oraz północne rubieże dawnego folwarku Stare Kamienice.

through which I roughly translated w/ Google

The administrative settlement of Pope John Paul II in Ostrow Wielkopolski - Administrative estate located in the eastern part of the city. There are about 18,000 residents. It covers the southern part and the northern reaches of former old tenement farm.

Hopefully, I'm not spreading misinformation with a hasty Google search/translation. But it appears as if Pope John Paul II's estate was bequeathed to the needy prior to his passing into greater glory.

Feel free to go roll around in the mud on his farm and make of yourself a 3rd degree relic.

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  • Good find. According to Wikipedia, Ostrów Wielkopolski is the birthplace of the Red Baron. A news article asserts John Paul II sponsored a school (named after him) that received a part of his cloak as a relic.
    – Jon 'links in bio' Ericson
    Mar 18, 2013 at 18:01
  • @JonEricson Interesting about the pope's cloak. More from the Wikipedia article: "During World War II, a Nazi labor camp ... operated within the town's limits, where 193 people died. The town was one of the major anti-Nazi conspiracy centers in the Great Poland region."
    – Alypius
    Mar 21, 2013 at 2:19

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