VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has ordered cardinals to accept a 10 percent cut in pay and reduced the salaries of most other clerics working in the Vatican to save employees’ jobs as the coronavirus pandemic has hit Santa’s revenue See.
The Vatican said on Wednesday that Francis issued a decree introducing proportional cuts as of April 1. A spokesman said most lay employees would not be affected by the cuts.
A leading Vatican prelate said it is believed to be the first time in memory that a pope has taken such action.
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Francisco, 84, of working-class family, has always insisted that he does not want to fire people in difficult economic times, even when the Vatican continues to run deficits.
Cardinals who work in the Vatican and live there or in Rome are believed to receive salaries of about 4,000 to 5,000 euros ($ 4,730 to $ 5,915) per month, and many live in large apartments with rents well below the market.
Most of the priests and nuns who work in the Vatican departments live in religious communities in Rome, such as seminaries, convents, parishes, universities and schools, which gives them greater protection against economic crises.
They have much lower livelihood expenses than lay employees – such as police, doormen, firefighters, cleaners, art restorers and maintenance personnel – who live in Rome and many of whom have families.
The Vatican’s top economic official said earlier this month that the Holy See, the central administrative body of the Catholic Church worldwide, may have to use 40 million euros in reserves for the second consecutive year, while the Covid-19 pandemic burns. your finances.
He expects a deficit of around 50 million euros this year. Revenue is expected to be around 213 million euros in 2021, down 30% from 2020.
St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums, the latter a dairy cow that received about 6 million paying visitors in 2019, were closed or only partially opened for much of 2020 because of the pandemic. The museums were due to reopen this month, but remained closed due to a new blockade by Italy.