Leone XIV, the new pope without a salary who inherits a Vatican in red

With its election, Leo XIV He accepted – among other things – also the only charge of the Curia without economic compensation: that of Bishop of Rome. It is one of the approximately 5,300 bishops in the world that do not perceive a salary. With the assignment, he also lost the salary who received how cardinal: about 60,000 euros per yearas Vatican Prefect. The papal salarymoreover, is a purely symbolic concept: it includes a implicit vote of poverty. And if in the past the popes still received an indemnity for occasional expenses, Pope Francis He decided not only to give up that money, but also to radically reform the management of the finance and expenses of the Holy See.

Because – paradoxical in an institution that collects billions every year – the Vatican is a economic disaster: for years it has closed i Loss budgets.

In 2022, the Jesuit Juan Antonio Guerrero Alvesat the time Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy (the body that supervises the finance of the microstat), declared that the budget “with revenue for 770 million euros and expenses for 803 million” recorded a deficit of 33 million. And it went well: in 2021, The loss had been 42 million. How much do I really cost the Pope’s maintenance, safety, travel and expenses remains difficult to know: the budgets are not transparent enough to provide these figures.

Still, the Dad It is also one money machine. Not only because of the donations, but thanks to the systematic exploitation of its image: stamps, rosaries, commemorative coins, cult objects and merchandising. Not to mention the editorial products: the books of the Popes and, to give an iconic example, the double CD with the rosary recited by John Paul II (in Latin, dubbed in the foreign versions), launched in 1994. In Spain – complete with a stamp “announced on TV” – 60 thousand copies were sold in the first two months. How much the Vatican had grown from those sales remains a mystery: it is only known that the production costs were drawn. Ironically, just the year before, the Holy See had recorded a record loss of about 185 million euros (at the current exchange rate).

Of course, for those who work inside the Vatican walls there are some advantage. The accommodation? Paid. Meals? Yes, as long as you leave the minibar alone. Taxes? None. A Cardinal residing in the Vatican – as was the prevost before becoming Leone XIV – earns about 5 thousand euros per month. Or rather, he earned: before the arrival of Francisthe salary was 5,500 euros. After the pandemic, Pope Bergoglio imposed a 10%cut. And in November 2024, the secretariat for the economy announced two further Bonus reductionsequal to several hundred euros per month. Prevost also affected.

Now it’s up to Leone XIV to decide whether to follow the example of Francesco – inspired by the saint of Assisi, famous for his poverty and for his rule that already authorized, “if necessary”, the use of shoes – or whether to rely on another divine lighting to put in order that would need at least a couple of miracles.