Well since your profile does not give any indication of your location, it is a bit difficult to know which "government" you are referring to.
So I will assume you are referring to the Vatican City which (although not an independent self governing sovereign state at that time) had some degree of authority and control over what was probably the largest identifiable group of people in the world at that time - the Congregation of the Roman Catholic Church.
During the Nineteenth Century the Vatican City was involved in such businesses as tourism, the sale of religious icons, votive candlles, relics, rosaries, indulgences, religious tracts and books; and what amounted to the sale of public services in the form of Baptisms, Confirmations, Absolutions, Masses, Holy Matrimony, and Funerals.
-- Best wishes - Majikthise.
Railway, postal, banks, etc
trusts