Sorry for this belated post. I had every intention yesterday of translating the Vatican bulletin which was interestingly detailed. I will post it as soon as I can translate, but meanwhile this givees the highlights.
Vatican posts deficits in 2008
due to economic downturn
VATICAN CITY, July 4 (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI has not escaped the economic downturn, with donations hit by the global financial storm, official figures showed Saturday.
The Vatican City ended 2008 with a deficit of 15 million euros (21 million dollars) and had been affected "like other states, by the economic and financial crisis", a statement said.
Gifts from churches to the head of the Roman Catholic Church had gone down, particularly at the festivals of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and came to around 54 million euros (76 million dollars), the Vatican said
This represented "a small drop due to the economic situation," it added. But the finances of the Holy See fared much better in the downturn.
The see registered a deficit of around 911,510 euros (1,275,000 dollars), much improved from the previous year's deficit of nine million euros (12.6 million dollars).
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Pope, and the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church.
It is distinct from the Vatican City, which is a city state.
The biggest donations last year were made by American, Italian and German Catholics, and the countries with the highest number of contributors were South Korea and Japan.
Sandro Magister also had an important blog entry yesterday on major changes in the management of the Vatican private bank known by its Italian acronym IOR (for Institute delle Opere Religiosi), which I will try to summarize later - because it's about how Benedict XVI's own men may finally take over the management rather than the team put in place by John Paul II (more correctly, by Cardinal Sodano) which has been linked to questionable business matters. Not as terrible as those that involved the late Archbishop Marcinkus and the failed Italian banks and the banker's suicides that stained the IOR in the earlier years of the Wojtyla Pontificate, but still rather fishy.
7/6/09
P.S. Meanwhile, here's the VIS account of the Vatican's 2008 fiNancial statements, posted only today because VIS does not operate on weekends.
HOLY SEE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR 2008
VATICAN CITY, 4 JUL 2009 (VIS) - The 63rd meeting of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organisational and Economic Problems of the Holy See was held in the Vatican from 1 to 3 July, under the presidency of Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B.
A communique published this afternoon explains that the Holy See consolidated financial statements for 2008, presented to the cardinals during the meeting by Archbishop Velasio De Paolis C.S., president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, show a deficit of 911,514 euro, the difference between an income of 253,953,869 euro and outgoings of 254,865,383 euro.
The outgoings are due above all to the ordinary and extraordinary expenses of the dicasteries and offices of the Holy See, which employ 2,732 people of whom 761 are ecclesiastics, 334 religious and 1,637 lay people.
The meeting also examined the consolidated financial statements of the Governorate of Vatican City State for 2008, which show a deficit of slightly more than 15 million euro. A total of 1,894 people work under the jurisdiction of the Governorate.
The communique explains how, during the period in question, the Governorate began to study an integrated communications infrastructure including telephone and internet services, and installed photoelectric panels on the roof of the Paul VI Hall.
It also mentions the "notable economic and financial burden of protecting, evaluating and restoring the artistic heritage of the Holy See (restoration of the Pauline Chapel and work on the papal basilicas of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls and St. Mary Major)".
Finally the consolidated financial statements of Peter's Pence were also presented. This fund consists of offers made to the Holy Father by the particular Churches, especially for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, and contributions by institutes of consecrated life, societies of apostolic life, foundations and various members of the faithful.
In 2008 a total of 54,387,714 euro was raised and, although the number of donations went up, the total fell slightly due to the general economic situation.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/07/2009 21:33]