Peter’s Pence and Vatican Museums Save the Day for Church’s Financial Statements

By Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican Insider
July 5, 2012

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/the-vatican/detail/articolo/vaticano-vatican-bilancio-balance-sheets-balance-16571/

In times of crisis, admission tickets to museums and offerings to the Pope become the Vatican’s financial pillars. The Holy See’s consolidated financial statements for 2011 close with a deficit of 14,890,034 Euro. Not all Vatican administrations however have published their financial statements; the accounts are therefore only partial.

The Governorate and the Peter’s Pence Collection have faired well but the Holy See is in the red. The Holy See has promised “contained spending without cutting back on jobs.” The cardinals of the Council for the examination of the Holy See’s organisational and economic problems gathered yesterday and Tuesday in the Vatican for a meeting chaired by the Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone. Participants gave “numerous” speeches and “made clear their appreciation at the completeness and transparency of the information they had been given,” while “recognition was expressed for the commitment to the ongoing improvement of the administration of the goods and resources of the Holy See.”

The Vatican Press Office reported that “a call was made for prudence and limiting costs, though while maintaining jobs.” “The result - the Council of cardinals informed - was affected by the negative trend of global financial markets, which made it impossible to achieve the goals laid down in the budget.”

“The most significant items of expenditure - the Vatican Information Service informs - were those relative to personnel (who as of 31 December 2011 numbered 2,832) and to the communications media considered as a whole.” The deficit recorded this year “is due to the fact that the revenue from movable property, that is, from Apsa’s investments in bonds and stocks in international markets was lower compared to previous years - the Vatican’s spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi said in a briefing with journalists. This does not surprise anyone; it is the reality of the world we live in.”

Still, this is the worst result the Holy See has seen in many years, if one takes into account the fact that the its final consolidated financial statements for the year 2010 recorded a surplus of 9, 8 million Euro, in 2009 a surplus of 4 million Euro, in 2008 a surplus of 1 million Euro and in 2007 one of 9 million Euro.

Fr. Lombardi pointed out that despite the effects of the global financial crisis, the “canon”, in other words, the contributions which dioceses from all across the world give for the Holy See’s activities had a “good performance”, with figures rising from 27,3 to 32,1 million dollars. The same can be said for the Peter’s Pence Collection (the offerings that go towards the Popes charity work but are not counted as part of the Vatican budget), which rose from 67, 7 to 69, 7 million dollars. “As it does every year, the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) offered the Holy Father a significant sum to support his apostolic and charitable ministry. The amount involved for the financial year 2011 was 49,000,000 Euro,” the Vatican Information Service stated.

The Council of Cardinals called for prudence and cost cutting but for jobs to be maintained. The Governorate (1,887 employees) is an autonomous administrative body and independent of contributions from the Holy See. The Governorate’s consolidated financial statements for 2011 closed with a surplus of 21,843,851 Euro.

“A particularly significant contribution to the result came from the Vatican Museums, which produced revenue that passed from 82,400,000 Euro in 2010 to 91,300.000 Euro, for a total of more than five million visitors. According to specialised rankings, these figures place the Vatican Museums among the most prestigious and important such institutions in the world,” The Vatican Information Service reported.