"The Catholic church is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator and property owner in existence. She is a greater possessor of material riches than any other single institution, corporation, bank, giant trust, government or state of the whole globe. ... The Vatican has large investments with the Rothschilds of Britain, France and America. ... The Vatican has billions of shares in the most powerful international corporations. ... The Catholic church, once all her assets have been put together, is the most formidable stockbroker in the world. ... The Vatican's treasure of gold has been estimated to amount to several billion dollars. A large bulk of this is stored in gold ingots with the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, while banks in England and Switzerland hold the rest... When to that is added all the real estate, property, stocks and shares abroad, then the staggering accumulation of the wealth of the Catholic church becomes so formidable as to defy any rational assessment." from the book "The Vatican Billions" by Avro Manhattan, 1983 During a war you will never see the Vatican, City of London or Switzerland get attacked. On the grand chessboard these are considered neutral ground because it is where all the money flows. Without money to fund war, there is no war.