ROME (AP) – The Vatican warned on Friday that it had almost exhausted its financial reserves from previous donations to cover budget deficits in recent years, as it continued to urge believers to keep the Holy See afloat and continue Pope Francis’ mission. .
The Vatican has published its budget for 2021 in its latest effort for greater financial transparency amid an estimated budget deficit of 50 million euros this year. The aim is to assure donors that their money is well spent after years of mismanagement, which is currently at the heart of a Vatican corruption investigation.
Francis’s Minister of Economy, Rev. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, said the coronavirus pandemic, which has reduced donations as well as closed Vatican Museum revenues, will contribute to a projected 30% reduction in revenues to 213 million euros in 2021 from 307 million euros in 2019, the last year available.
He noted that the Vatican made significant cost reductions during the blockade last year, with a drastic reduction in travel, consultation, conference and assembly costs and the postponement of unnecessary real estate repairs and maintenance. In an interview with Vatican Media, Guerrero said he expects to further reduce spending by 8% in 2021, without resorting to layoffs, which is contrary to Francis.
But even then, the deficit of 50 million euros projected for 2021 will again require sinking into previous donation reserves to cover expenses. Guerrero confirmed that in 2019, the Vatican used € 27.2 million in Peter’s Pence reserves to cover its operating costs, in addition to € 53.8 million in revenue from that year’s Peter’s Pence fund. .
In 2020, he estimated that the Vatican had taken 40 million euros in Peter’s Pence reserves and that a similar amount was expected in 2021.
Peter’s Pence funds, usually offered during an annual Mass collection, are billed as a practical way to help the pope in his ministry and charitable work, but are also used to lead the Holy See’s bureaucracy.
“This recourse to Peter’s Pence reserves in recent years means that the fund’s liquidity is depleted and, with the current crisis, it is very likely that in 2022 we will need to make some use of APSA’s assets,” he said. referring to the Vatican’s central bank, which manages the Holy See’s real estate and other financial investments.
Peter’s Pence’s funds were examined in the wake of an investigation by Vatican prosecutors into the State Secretariat’s € 350 million investment in a London-based real estate company, some of which was apparently funded by Peter’s Pence.
Several Italian brokers and dealers, as well as some Vatican officials, are being investigated on suspicion of paying millions of fees from the Holy See.