VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis has ordered cardinals to cut salaries by 10% and cut the salaries of most other clerics working in the Vatican to save employees’ jobs as the coronavirus pandemic has hit the Holy See’s revenue.
The Vatican said on Wednesday that Francis had issued a decree introducing proportional reductions as of April 1. A spokesman said most lay employees would not be affected by the cuts.
A senior Vatican prelate said it was believed for the first time in his life that a pope had taken such an action.
Francis, 84, from a working-class family, has often insisted he does not want to lay off people in difficult economic times, even though the Vatican continues to run deficits.
Cardinals who work at the Vatican and live there or in Rome are estimated to receive salaries of about 4,000 to 5,000 euros a month ($ 4,730 to $ 5,915) a month, and many live in large apartments well below market rents. .
Most priests and nuns working in Vatican departments live in religious communities in Rome, such as seminaries, monasteries, parishes, universities, and schools – giving them greater protection against economic recessions.
They have much lower living expenses than lay employees – such as police, cashiers, firefighters, cleaners, art restorers and maintenance staff – who live in Rome and many of them have families.
These secular workers that the pope seems to want to protect, because most of their levels of employment were not listed in the papal decree. The Vatican’s pay scales range from levels 1-10 for most employees. The senior positions have four classes, from C to C-3.
In addition to cardinals, other clerics will see their salaries reduced by between 3% and 8%. Scheduled wage increases for all but the three lowest wage classes will be suspended until March 2023.
MUSEUMS CLOSED BY THE PANDEMIC
The Vatican’s top economic official said earlier this month that the Holy See, the central administrative body of the Catholic Church around the world, should use 40 million euros in reserves for the second year in a row, while the COVID-19 pandemic through its finances.
A deficit of around 50 million euros is expected this year. Revenue is expected to be around € 213 million in 2021, down 30% from 2020.
St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums, the last cash cow that received about 6 million paying visitors in 2019, have been closed or only partially open for much of 2020 due to the pandemic. Museums were due to reopen this month, but remained closed due to a new blockade by Italy.
In a seven-point preface to the decree explaining why action is needed now, Francis said the pandemic “negatively affected all sources of revenue for the Holy See and the Vatican.”
He said that although both now have “adequate capitalization”, he felt a duty to ensure “sustainability and a balance of income and expenditure” in the current economic climate.
Last year, Vatican administrators ordered a freeze on promotions and hiring and a ban on overtime, travel and major events, in an attempt to limit costs.
The Holy See’s budget covers entities in Rome that oversee the governance of the 1.3 billion-member World Church, its diplomatic missions, and media operations.
The 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 income of the Holy See comes from donations, real estate administration and investments.
($ 1 = € 0.8454)
Reporting by Philip Pullella; Edited by Alison Williams, Janet Lawrence and Jonathan Oatis