# Who is the poorest, most powerful person in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331 "2014-06-08T14:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/21 "2014-06-09T18:42:07Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > The Pope doesn’t take a vow of poverty. However, the current Pope was (and probably still is) a Jesuit, a member of a religious order. Do Jesuits take vows of poverty? Iirc members of some other orders do. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/22 "2014-06-09T18:45:14Z")
My guess is that the answer, if there is one, is going to be a religious figure, likely, but not necessarily one who has taken a formal vow of poverty, who has some level of control of vast amounts of assets through the office they hold (e.g. big budget position) and/or through the assets of their followers, but who personally has very little. Perhaps a monk or something. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/23 "2014-06-09T19:37:28Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > However, the current Pope was (and probably still is) a Jesuit, a member of a religious order. Do Jesuits take vows of poverty? Iirc members of some other orders do. Yes, the Jesuits actually take 4 vows - the traditional three for religious orders of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and a [fourth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_vow) of specific obedience to the Pope. ---
**Author:** ![Batistuta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58956e/32.png) [@Batistuta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batistuta)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/24 "2014-06-09T19:44:04Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Yes, the Jesuits actually take 4 vows - the traditional three for religious orders of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and a [fourth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_vow) of **specific obedience to the Pope.** Thanks. I guess that last one is not too hard to follow when you yourself are the Pope ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/25 "2014-06-09T19:58:42Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Yes, the Jesuits actually take 4 vows - the traditional three for religious orders of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and a [fourth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_vow) of specific obedience to the Pope. So, their three vows are poverty, chastity, obedience, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/26 "2014-06-09T19:58:42Z")
> [@Batistuta](#): > > Thanks. I guess that last one is not too hard to follow when you yourself are the Pope His tools are fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to himself, and white dresses. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/27 "2014-06-09T20:00:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > So, their three vows are poverty, chastity, obedience, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope. So _that’s_ what the Romans have done for us! ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/28 "2014-06-09T20:02:58Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > So _that’s_ what the Romans have done for us! Ni! ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/29 "2014-06-09T20:31:15Z")
Until a couple of years ago, it might hae been President Lula of Brazil, who I believe drove an old pickup truck. Maybe the guy in Bolivia (Plurinational State of), too. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/30 "2014-06-09T20:34:46Z")
I’m going to say Bill and Hillary Clinton, while he was president. According to her they were dead broke. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/31 "2014-06-09T22:03:27Z")
> [@Fishtar](#): > > Edward Snowden? Wanted and homeless with terabytes worth of classified documents. Though I imagine book and movie deals are forthcoming. While he’s started a big ball rolling toward [mass action to reclaim privacy](https://www.resetthenet.org/), he doesn’t really have any further influence – the journalists who now hold the whistle-blower files control the pace of future revelations, and it’s not at all clear that even this has any power to add or detract from the ripples set in motion. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/32 "2014-06-10T07:07:28Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I don’t think having had an effect on the world is the same as having power. If she were to issue a decree tomorrow, I doubt if anyone, even her most ardent admirers, would feel any need to follow it. Two different kinds of “power”. Depending on which kind the OP had in mind, one biggie from last century might have been Mahatma Gandhi. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/33 "2014-06-10T07:40:10Z")
Well, that would equally be an objection to the nomination of the pope. Large numbers of his professed followers routinely ignore teachings about, e.g., contraception, pre-marital sex, economic justice, etc. The truth it that he tries to persuade people to behave in certain ways, and his position means that they will at least give what he says a hearing, but in the end they make up their own minds about when they will adopt what he says, and when they won’t. So, if power means the authority to compel obedience, most religious leaders have little or no power. However the OP explicitly mentions religious leaders as being among the powerful, so clearly the OP doesn’t invoke such a narrow concept of “power”. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/34 "2014-06-10T07:52:28Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > However, the current Pope was (and probably still is) a Jesuit, a member of a religious order. Do Jesuits take vows of poverty? Iirc members of some other orders do. Jesuits do take vows of poverty. But a Jesuit who is appointed to be a bishop is released from his vow of poverty (because under canon law the bishop’s role involves, among other things, acting as the owner of diocesan property) and his vow of obedience (because it ain’t right that a diocesan bishop should be subject to the direction of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus). So Pope Francis hasn’t been bound by a formal vow of poverty since he was appointed a bishop (which happened in 1992). He hasn’t been bound by his vows of obedience either (though as a bishop he had a canonical obligation of obedience to the pope). Although not bound by the vow, it’s customary for Jesuits who are bishops to continue to observe monastic poverty, and by all accounts Pope Francis has done. It’s unlikely that he owns much beyond his personal possessions - clothes, books and so forth - and, while I don’t know how he applied his salary as Arcbishop of Buenos Aires, his current position carries no salary. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/35 "2014-06-10T16:01:56Z")
Another poster mentioned it, but I’d also go with Obama. The power to wealth ratio there is pretty much off the scale compared to basically anyone else. He’s certainly not even rich by US standards (he’s basically upper middle class), and he’s arguably the most powerful man on the planet, wielding the power of the most powerful country on earth. ---
**Author:** ![Suicide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Suicide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suicide)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/36 "2014-06-10T20:13:05Z")
before she died, the winner would have been…mother theresa! very poor and very powerful…if she called the white house, the president would take her call…that’s how you decide who’s powerful ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/37 "2014-06-10T20:41:27Z")
> [@Suicide](#): > > before she died, the winner would have been…mother theresa! very poor and very powerful…if she called the white house, the president would take her call…that’s how you decide who’s powerful Powerful, no. I seriously doubt that if she called any leader of a G8 nation when she was alive, they would drop anything to take the call. At most they might get a note with what she said in the daily briefing. Poor is also questionable. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/38 "2014-06-10T20:42:20Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > But a Jesuit who is appointed to be a bishop is released from his vow of poverty (because under canon law the bishop’s role involves, among other things, acting as the owner of diocesan property) How many subdivisions has the pope? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/39 "2014-06-10T22:07:26Z")
> [@XT](#): > > [Obama]'s certainly not even rich by US standards (he’s basically upper middle class) I think having multiple best-selling books and a net worth over $12 million pushes him a little outside of “upper middle class”, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331/40 "2014-06-15T03:31:10Z")
According to [this site](http://www.theirnetworth.com/Politicians/Rand_Paul/), Kentucky senator Rand Paul is only worth $1.1 million, and yet the GOP are so afraid of what he can do to public opinion that he can pretty much run the party by proxy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-poorest-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/690331.md?page=1)