Vatican says its highest expenditures are related to employee wages

(January 23, 2010) The Vatican said it expects wages and cost-of-living adjustments for Vatican employees to be its biggest expenditures in 2010, and it encouraged increased giving by Catholics to help fund its activities. Despite continued high operational costs and other difficulties, the budget situation for this year reflects "slight improvement," the Vatican said Friday, following a two-day meeting of a council of cardinals charged with reviewing the Vatican budgets. The Vatican statement gave no figures for projected income and expenses, but offered a general description of the Holy See budget plan. The plan includes most offices of the Roman Curia and Vatican media operations, but excludes the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Vatican City State. It said that among expenditures for the Holy See, the most substantial item is the wages of its 2,668 employees. It said wage expenditures keep rising because of cost-of-living adjustments. The separate budget plan for Vatican City State, which includes the Vatican Museums and the care of Vatican buildings, covers the wages of an additional 1,884 employees.