COVID disaster on the Vatican
Due to the impact of COVID-19, the Pope has cut cardinals’ salaries and seniority shots have been blocked as of April 1.
- In order to safeguard current jobs, the Pope decided that the salaries of the cardinals, as well as other superiors and clergymen, should be reduced by 10%.
- From April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2023, there will be a biennial admission block for all staff working in the Holy See, the governorate, and other related bodies.
- In Italy, poverty is growing due to COVID, but aid from the Church is also growing, despite its own financial problems.
Pope Bergoglio with a motu proprio (of his own accord) has included spending on the staff of the Holy See, the Governorate of Vatican City State and other related bodies in the face of the financial crisis exacerbated by the pandemic.
“In view of the need to act in accordance with the criteria of proportionality and progressiveness” and “safeguard current jobs”, it was decided that a 10% wage cut should be administered, which would affect the cardinals and other superiors and clergy. For these top religious figures, the Pope has also suspended shots on seniority until 2023 (with the exception of first to third tier laypeople).
“An economically sustainable future today requires, among other things, that measures are also taken with regard to employee salaries,” wrote Bergoglio in his Motu Proprio. The Pope does not want to fire, but the costs must be contained. Therefore the decision was made to intervene “according to criteria of proportionality and progressiveness” with some adjustments, which particularly affect clergy and religious at the highest level.
This financial bottleneck was motivated “by the deficit that has shaped the economic management of the Holy See for several years” and by the situation caused by the pandemic “that has negatively affected all sources of revenue for the Holy See and the Vatican City state.”
