The coronavirus pandemic is also affecting the Vatican economically
Photo: EFE / EPA / VATICAN MEDIA HANDOUT / EFE
Pope Francis is trying to save jobs as the coronavirus pandemic hits Vatican revenues and ordered pay cuts for cardinals and other clergy, including priests and nuns, who work at the Holy See.
In a decree published on Wednesday by the official Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Francis said that from April the cardinals’ salaries will be reduced by 10%.
The superiors of the various departments of the Holy See will be affected by 8% cuts, while lower-ranking priests and nuns will see 3% of their paychecks disappear, reported CBS News.
The Pope noted in the decree that the finances of the The Holy See have been marked by several years of deficits. The worsening of those financial problems, the Pope wrote, was the COVID pandemic – 19 , “which has had a negative impact on all sources of income for the Holy See and the State of the Vatican City. ”
Belt-tightening“ is intended to save current jobs, ”Francis wrote.
Tourism bans in many countries and other pandemic restrictions have drastically reduced revenue in the Vatican Museums, which , with its Sistine Chapel, is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Italy.
A perennial great generator of money for the Vatican, museums opened for a few weeks during the pandemic, when the situation in Italy improved. But without visits from tourists from the United States and some other countries, the cavernous museum halls were eerily unpopulated. The sites are currently closed and will remain that way for now, including during the upcoming Holy Week.
Salary cuts also apply to various Vatican basilicas in Rome, as well as to the diocese of Rome, which is under the direction of the Pope.
In any case, Pope Francis noted, the salary reductions will not apply to anyone who can document that the cuts will make it “impossible to cover fixed expenses related to their health conditions or those of their relatives.”