ROME – In an effort to curb costs and save jobs amid falling tourist dollars and donations as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis ordered widespread pay cuts for cardinals and other high-ranking clerics working in the Vatican.
Cardinals will see their income reduced by 10%, according to a decree published on Wednesday. The superiors of the Vatican departments will have their salaries reduced by 8%, while cuts of 3% will be applied to high-ranking priests and nuns. A two-year salary freeze was imposed on other employees with higher salary levels.
The pandemic “has negatively influenced all sources of income in the Holy See and the Vatican City State,” Francis wrote in an apostolic letter. “A sustainable economic future requires, today, among other decisions, the adoption of measures that also concern the remuneration of employees.”
The cuts, which take effect on April 1, affect only officials from the Holy See, Vatican City and associated institutions, including the Vicariate of Rome. They do not apply to Vatican personnel who can prove that they cannot afford the costs of personal medical care or close family members.
Of the nearly 5,000 people employed in the Roman Curia, in the administrative institutions of the Holy See and in Vatican City State, cardinals have the highest monthly salaries, ranging from 4,000 to 5,000 euros, or about $ 4,700 to $ 5,900, according to Mimmo Muolo, the author of the 2019 book “The Church’s Money”. The Vatican does not make public employees’ salaries public.
The pope will not be affected by the cuts because he does not receive a salary. “As an absolute monarch, he has everything at his disposal and nothing at his disposal,” said Muolo. “He doesn’t need an income, because he has everything he needs.”
Working in the Vatican offers advantages, with many employees living in Vatican-owned residences and paying well below market rates.
The economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic “strongly impacted” revenues, the Vatican’s Economy Secretariat wrote in a note in February.
The 2021 budget approved by Francis projected a deficit of € 49.7 million, although operating costs had been reduced by € 24 million compared to 2019, a year before the pandemic. Personnel expenses represent about half of the budget.
Reverend Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, the Vatican’s top economic official, said this month that revenue was expected to be around € 213 million in 2021, a 30 percent reduction from 2019.
“The crisis caused by the pandemic is the cause of this restrictive budget,” said Father Guerrero Alves in an interview with the Vatican news portal two weeks ago. He said the cost cut had reduced expenses for travel, overtime and meetings and led to the postponement of renovations and some purchases. But the Vatican did not cut jobs.
“Pope Francis insists that saving money does not necessarily mean firing employees. He is very sensitive to the difficult situation of families, ”he said.
The Holy See’s revenue comes from real estate management, investments and donations. The Vatican City State has a separate budget and obtains part of its revenue from the Vatican Museums, which had 6.7 million visitors in 2019, according to The Art Newspaper. Museums were opened and closed last year because of the pandemic. Of the 1.3 million visitors last year, one million came before the start of the national blockade in early March 2020.
“The budgeted expenditures for 2021 are the lowest in the recent history of the Holy See, but the savings were made without diminishing service to the pope’s mission and defending the salaries and jobs of officials,” said Father Guerrero Alves. “We need the support of the faithful.”