Vatican out of the red - Museums have great year

Below is an unofficial summary of the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Problems of the Holy See.

On Thursday June 30^th and Friday July 1^st, the meeting of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Problems of the Holy See took place in the Vatican, under the presidency of His Holiness’ Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, SDB.

The points on the agenda were:

The consolidated balance sheet of the Holy See for 2010
The balance sheet of the Governatorate of Vatican City State for 2010
Peter’s Pence and contributions received in 2010 under canon 1271 of Code of Canon Law

His Eminence, Cardinal Velasio de Paolis presented the Holy See’s 2010 balance sheet, which shows introits of €245,195,561.00 and expenditures of €235,347,437.00 with a surplus of 9,848,124.00.

The 2010 balance review would seem to confirm the positive tendency of 2009, notwithstanding the elements of uncertainty and instability still present in the world economic and financial situation.

Expenditures were made mostly owing to ordinary and extraordinary operating costs of the Dicasteries and Organisms of the Holy See, which, each in its own way, participate in the Pope’s pastoral solicitude for the whole Church. As of December 31^st 2010, the total number of persons employed by the Holy See was 2,806 as against the 2,762 of 2009.

His Eminence, the President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs then presented the 2010 Balance Sheet for the Governatorate of Vatican City State, which registers introits of €255,890,112.00 and costs amounting to €234,847,011.00, with a closing surplus of €21,043,000.00. Both the excellent performance of the Vatican Museums – thanks especially to the increase in visitors, which runs against the current worldwide trend in the tourism industry – and the upswing in financial markets contributed to this positive result.

The Administration of the Governatorate is independent of contributions coming from the Holy See and other Institutions and provides autonomously for the running costs of Vatican City State. As of December 30^st 2010, the total number of persons employed by the Governatorate of Vatican City State was 1,876 as against the 1,891 of 2009.

The meeting then moved to the exposition of data relative to Peter’s Pence, which is the sum total of the gifts made to the Holy Father by particular Churches, the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, from foundations and individual members of the faithful, especially on occasion of the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. In 2010, the Peter’s Pence collection amounted to US $ 67,704,416.41 – a decrease with respect to the year before. The Members of the Council express their wholehearted gratitude to all those who contributed, recognizing that their generosity is a real and vital support for and participation in the pastoral and charitable work Holy Father, especially in situations of calamity and emergency in various parts of the world.

Under canon 1271 of the Code of Canon Law, the sum of US $ 27,362,258.40 was deposited for the purpose of supporting the central structures of the Church. This too represented a decrease with regard to 2009.
Also to be mentioned are the offerings that came from other institutions, among them the IOR (Institute for the Works of Religion), which gave the sum of €55,000,000.00 toward the Holy Father’s religious activities.