Federal Bill would exempt the Pope of Taxes in the US and “protect” his US citizenship

A new bill presented before the United States Congress “would protect the national citizenship of any American who is chosen Pope of the Catholic Church, including exempting it from paying taxes at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Representative Jeff Hurd, Republican of Colorado, presented the billsaying that “guarantees that any American who responds to the call to lead more than one billion Catholics worldwide can do so without risking their citizenship or facing unnecessary fiscal loads.”

Although the text of the bill is not yet available, Hurd said in a Communiqué on your Congress website that the initiative is intended to “protect citizens and grant fiscal exemption status to any American chosen as the high pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.”

“This legislation recognizes the extraordinary nature of the papacy: a role at the intersection of faith, leadership and global responsibility,” said the representative of Colorado.

The measure “(exempt) the individual of tax obligations in the United States while serving as a potato,” says the Hurd website.

The bill was sent to the Media and Arbitration Committee of the House of Representatives on July 17.

The current Pope, Leo XIV, is until now the only Pope born in the United States in the 2,000 years of history of the Catholic Church.

Since the election of León on May 8, there has been speculation about what his role as Pope means for his American citizenship.

The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comments on the bill this Thursday.

According to the IRSUS citizens are “subject to the United States Income Tax, regardless of where they live or where they obtain their income.” Citizens who live abroad also have the same declaration requirements as those who reside in the United States.

Paul Hunker, American and Catholic immigration lawyer, told CNA – Ewtn News in May – that the United States Federal Law establishes the conditions under which an American citizen can lose his citizenship.

These conditions include committing an act of betrayal, obtaining naturalization in a foreign state and accepting a position as a foreign state of state, although these actions must be carried out voluntarily and with the intention of renouncing US nationality.

The United States Department of State dice which generally presumes that American citizens, even if they accept a position in a foreign government, wish to keep their citizenship unless they are “clear and credible” the opposite.

The Vatican Law dictates that the Holy Father maintains “the fullness of the Government Power, which includes the legislative, executive and judicial powers” of the state of the city of the Vatican and the Holy See, the latter being the central authority of the Government of the Church.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.