ROME (AP) – The Vatican warned on Friday that it had almost depleted its financial reserves from donations from the previous year to cover budget deficits in recent years, as it encouraged the believers to give the Holy See a go. holding and the ministry of Pope Francis.
The Vatican has published its budget for 2021 in its latest effort to increase financial transparency amid a projected budget deficit of 50 million euros this year. The aim is to reassure donors that their money is being spent well, after years of mismanagement that is currently the focus of a Vatican corruption investigation.
Francis’ Minister of Economy, the Rev. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, said the coronavirus pandemic, which reduced donations as well as revenue from the Vatican Museums shutters, would contribute to a projected 30% reduction in revenue to 213 million euros in 2021, from 307 million euros in 2019, the last year available.
He noted that during the exclusion last year, the Vatican achieved significant cost cuts, with drastically reduced travel, consultation fees, conference and meetings, and unnecessary repairs and maintenance of real estate. In an interview with Vatican Media, Guerrero said he expects to reduce spending by 8% further in 2021, without sacrificing layoffs, which Francis opposes.
But even then, the shortfall of 50 million euros expected for 2021 will again be necessary to plunge into reserves of previous donations to cover expenses. Guerrero confirmed that in 2019 the Vatican used € 27.2 million in Peter’s Pence reserves to cover its operating costs, in addition to the revenue of € 53.8 million to the Peter’s Pence fund that year.
In 2020, he estimates that the Vatican would take 40 million euros into the reserves of Peter’s Pence, and that a similar amount would be expected in 2021.
Peter’s Pence funds, usually presented at an annual Mass Mass, are formulated as a concrete way to help the pope in his ministry and charity work, but are also used to manage the Holy See bureaucracy.
“The use of Peter’s Pence reserves over the past few years means that the fund’s liquidity has been depleted and with the current crisis it is very likely that in 2022 we will have to make some use of APSA’s assets.” he said, referring to the Vatican’s central bank, which manages the Holy See’s real estate and other financial investments.
Peter’s Pence funds have been scrutinized following an investigation by Vatican prosecutors into the secretariat of the state’s 350 million euro investment in a London fixed company, some of which is apparently funded by Peter’s Pence .
Several Italian brokers and dealers, as well as some Vatican officials, are being investigated for allegedly fleeing the Holy See for millions of dollars.