The death of Pope Francis on April 21 at the age of 88 has led to American televangelist Joel Osteen getting called out for his supposed extravagant lifestyle.

“He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell stated in an announcement about the deceased Pope, who was laid to rest on April 26. 

Following his passing, Pope Francis’ meager accommodations of a bedroom, an office, and a reception room as head of the Catholic Church were highlighted on social media in comparison to Joel Osteen’s standard of living.

Prosperity Pastor Joel Osteen 'Shamed' Into Opening Doors of Megachurch to Harvey Victims
Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen faces backlash over lavish mansion. (Photo: AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

The World of Statistics account on X shared a photo claiming to be the extremely modest bedroom of Pope Francis in Vatican City’s Casa Santa Marta building.

While those images received a community note on the platform for not being the actual living quarters of the late Buenos Aires-born pontiff, the point of the tweet still resonated with Osteen critics.

“It must be difficult for Joel Osteen to preach every Sunday while thinking about all the contractors he has to meet every Monday morning for another room [addition] onto his estate. The stress and anxiety must be much,” one person on X stated.

A second person on the social media platform questioned Osteen’s reported $40 million-$60 million net worth by wondering, “I don’t see why his followers give him money when they are broke and he’s rich.”

“Well, we all know which one was following Jesus’ instructions, now don’t we? Good luck to Osteen when he meets his maker,” declared another individual. Additionally, someone simply expressed, “Our faith leaders are not the same.”

However, one person backed Osteen and downplayed Pope Francis’ ostensible humility, tweeting, “Good for him. The Vatican has been building wealth for almost 2000 years. So A pope slept in a boring room. Tell me why I care?”

According to the Daily Mail, Osteen has resided in his $10.5 million home on two acres in Texas since 2010. The house, located in the Houston suburb of River Oaks, has six bedrooms, three elevators, a guest house, and an outdoor pool.

Osteen has been a target of criticism for several years. The “Your Best Life Now” author faced widespread scrutiny in 2017 when his Lakewood Church initially refused to provide shelter to victims of the devastating Hurricane Harvey disaster. 

At first, Lakewood officials claimed the church was “inaccessible due to severe flooding.” That explanation did not stop questions about the decision to shut off the 16,800-seat building to local residents in need. 

Conflicting photos of the Lakewood site at the time caused more confusion about the church’s capability to temporarily house Texans displaced by the catastrophic flooding that laid waste to the southcentral region of the United States.

Osteen addressed the backlash during the church’s first Sunday service post-storm. He blamed “misinformation” for the negative response directed at him. Video of that speech to his congregation has since been taken down from Lakewood Church’s YouTube channel.

“Without the floodgates, we wouldn’t be here tonight. The water started to recede, I guess, maybe Sunday night — slowly, maybe early Monday morning. And we felt like it was safe to start taking people in Tuesday,” Osteen said, per People.

The prosperity gospel preacher continued, “Had we opened the building sooner and someone got injured — or perhaps the building flooded — and somebody lost their life, that would be a different story.”

“I don’t mind taking the heat for being cautious, but I don’t want to take the heat for being foolish,” Osteen also insisted in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which forced over 780,000 people in Texas and Louisiana to evacuate.

In addition, Lakewood Church was slammed for receiving $4.4 million in taxpayer money from the federal Paycheck Protection Program in 2020. 

PPP loans were set up to help applicants pay workers and cover other costs after the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses, nonprofits, and other entities to temporarily shut down.

“Like many organizations temporarily shuttered by the pandemic, this loan provided Lakewood Church short-term financial assistance in 2020, ensuring that its approximately 350 employees and their families would continue to receive a paycheck and full health care benefits,” the megachurch said in a statement.

Osteen had the opportunity to meet with Pope Francis over a decade ago. The former Oral Roberts University student joined a 15-member group that included Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah for a trip to the Vatican in June 2014.

“I love the fact that he’s made the church more inclusive, not trying to make it smaller, but to try to make it larger to take everybody in,” Osteen was quoted as saying about the Jesuit born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in an interview with KPRC-TV.

The Daily Mail reports Pope Francis decided to spend his 12-year papacy living in the Casa Santa Marta guesthouse as opposed to moving into the traditional papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace. 

“I chose to live here, in Room 201, because when I took possession of the papal apartment, inside myself I distinctly heard a ‘no,” Francis explained in 2013 when he became the 266th pope following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.

‘Our Faith Leaders Are Not the Same’: Internet Explodes After Comparing Mega Pastor Joel Osteen’s Mansion to Pope Francis’ Tiny Apartment