The pandemic has the Vatican facing financial challenges.Pope Francis has decided to cut proportionally and indefinitely the salaries of Cardinals (10%), department heads and secretaries (8%), and all priests and religious in service at the Holy See (3%). All employees will have automatic seniority pay increases frozen until 2023, except for lay employees with paygrade levels one to three.
With this measure, the pope hopes to avoid that any Vatican employees lose their jobs in the midst of the economic challenges caused by the pandemic.
A document announcing the decision says the pope’s decision is motivated by “the deficit over the years affecting the financial management of the Holy See,” and above all the situation caused by the pandemic, “that has negatively influenced all sources of income for the Holy See and Vatican City State.”
Among the many factors negatively influencing Vatican finances in the pandemic has been the repeated and extended closures of the Vatican Museums.
The provisions are intended to contribute, along with other measures, to assuring a sustainable financial future for the mission of the central offices of the Church.
The full text of the Motu proprio, in the original Italian, can be found in the Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office.
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