The pope unexpectedly announced that the salaries of cardinals will be reduced by 10 percent, department heads and secretaries by eight percent and clergy and religious who work at the Vatican by three percent.
Since one of the Vatican’s biggest expenses is employee wages, the pope decided to cut salaries in order to avoid layoffs.
The Holy See has been weighed down by a deficit for years, and the coronavirus crisis has only aggravated its financial situation.
Estimates show that the Holy See’s deficit in 2021 will be about $95 million.
Last June the pope set up a $1,2 million fund to help those who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
POPE FRANCIS
In these days, many people have lost their jobs. They haven’t been rehired, because they were working under the table. Let us pray for these brothers and sisters of ours who are suffering because of this lack of work.
The monthly salary of the Curia’s cardinals is about $6,500. Now it will fall to $5,900.
The pope doesn’t have a fixed salary, but the Holy See covers his expenses.
For now the Vatican is not cutting lay employee wages, nor those of cardinals and bishops with medical expenses.
JMB
