dioceses

Chief among these were church lands, the corporate entities being dioceses, religious orders and the Roman Church itself.

Sure, other denominations have dioceses and bishops, but not as rigidly structured as Catholicism, e.g.

US Dioceses vary in the their legal corporate structure which, even with the canon law, greatly effects both legal and practical control.

As something issued by all bishops in the USA, it did at one time have official status in dioceses within the United States.

The proceeds go to the treasury of the local nonprofit Catholic dioceses.

The early church just copied these from the empire directly, not just the word itself; the first church dioceses were the same as the civic ones.

In terms of bringing in money, the vast majority of parishes and dioceses are on Church-owned land and have some sort of tax benefit or writeoff.

Church building maintenance is a huge portion of most dioceses' expenses, and with dwindling parishes and lack of funds, they simply can't keep all of them open.

Some dioceses (especially older ones that have not had cause to reorganize) are still organized as corporations sole, which makes the effectively personally controlled by the bishop.

In recent weeks, half a dozen dioceses have come under intense media scrutiny for past abuse by priests and attempts by the church hierarchy to hush up the scandals.

In any case, the principal way in which Catholic dioceses have been responding to the lack of funds is to shut down parishes rather than scale back the bureaucracies.

Additionally, the NYC Department of Education charged their wrong-doers, while the Church continues to protect criminals and avoid restitution, going so far as to dissolve dioceses to avoid paying lawful judgements.

So, assuming the Catholic parishes, dioceses, and organizations satisfied same the criteria for the PPP loans as everybody else, I don't think there's a "separation of church and state" issue here.

He's not going to be able to say "Kill, fornicate, and steal now!" without losing all credibility, but he can say, "We're going to ask for contributions monthly for X good cause." There's also money and diplomatic effort to be directed to dioceses around the world.