Pope Francis has ordered cardinals to take a 10 percent pay cut and cut the salaries of most other clergy working in the Vatican to save workers’ jobs as the coronavirus pandemic has the income of the Holy See affected.
The Vatican said on Wednesday that Francis issued a decree introducing proportional cuts from April 1. A spokesman said most lay people would not be affected by the cuts.
A senior Vatican prelate said it was the first time a Pope had taken such action.
Francis, 84, and from a working-class family, has often insisted that he does not want to lay off people in difficult economic times, even as the Vatican continues to run into shortages.
Cardinals who work in the Vatican and live there or in Rome are believed to receive salaries of about 4,000 to 5,000 euros ($ 4,730 to $ 5,915) per month, and many live in large apartments at rents well below market value.
Most of the priests and nuns who work in the Vatican departments live in religious communities in Rome such as seminaries, monasteries, parishes, universities and schools, which makes them better protected from economic downturns.
They have a much lower cost of living than laymen – such as police, ushers, firefighters, cleaners, art restorers and maintenance workers, who live in Rome and often have families.
It is these laypeople that the Pope seemed to want to protect, since most of their employment levels were not stated in the papal decree. Salary scales in the Vatican range from level 1-10 for most employees. Senior positions have four grades, from C to C-3.
In addition to the cardinals, other clergy will see their pay drop by 3 to 8 percent. Programmed pay increases for all but the three lowest pay classes will be suspended until March 2023.
Museums closed due to pandemic
The Vatican’s chief economic officer said earlier this month that the Holy See, the central governing body of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, may need to use EUR 40 million ($ 47 million) in reserves for the second year in a row if the COVID 19 pandemic is burning. through his finances.
A staff member stands at the entrance to the Vatican Museums as they reopen after coronavirus restrictions were relaxed in Rome, Italy [File: Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters]
It expects a deficit of approximately 50 million euros ($ 59 million) this year. Sales are expected to be approximately 213 million euros ($ 252 million) by 2021, 30 percent less than 2020.
St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums, the last a cash cow to receive about six million paying visitors in 2019, were closed or only partially open for much of 2020 due to the pandemic. The museums were supposed to reopen this month, but remained closed due to another lockdown by Italy.
In a seven-point preface to the decree explaining why action should be taken now, Francis said the pandemic had “negatively impacted all sources of income for the Holy See and the Vatican City State.”
He said that while both currently had “adequate capitalization”, he felt a duty to ensure “sustainability and balance of income and expenditure” in the current economic climate.
Last year, top Vatican executives ordered a freeze on promotions and hiring and a ban on overtime, travel and major events in an effort to cut costs.
The Holy See’s budget covers entities in Rome that oversee the governance of the 1.3 billion-member global church, its diplomatic missions, and media operations.
Vatican City, including the Vatican Museums and the Vatican Bank, has a separate budget, although revenues from both are often transferred to the Holy See to help close deficits.
The Holy See’s income comes from endowments, property management and investments.