Pope Francis Cuts Perks for Cardinals

Pope Francis has ended the practice of allowing Rome-based cardinals and senior church officials to live in free or subsidized accommodations in Vatican-owned properties around the city, according to Wanted in Rome. The new ruling, effective immediately, is aimed at reducing costs. 

According to The Pillar, the move was announced in a rescript, which is a legal change made at the request of Maximino Caballero Ledo, the prefect of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy. Cardinals, prefects of dicasteries, presidents of Vatican bodies, and senior curial staffers will now need to pay market value rates for rent in Vatican-owned buildings, according to The Pillar, an American news website focused on the Catholic Church. The policy change has encountered significant resistance by senior Vatican staff members. 

The pope has called on Vatican officials to “make an extraordinary sacrifice” to increase funds to the Church and to offset the increasingly negative impacts of the economic crisis. Subsidized housing or free rent has always been a perk for senior Vatican staff for generations, a tradition that counters the relatively low wages paid by curial departments, according to The Pillar. The move follows a 2021 ruling in which Pope Francis cut 8% of senior Vatican staffers’ salaries and 10% of cardinals’ wages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to The Pillar, a current Rome-based cardinal’s monthly wage is €4,500 ($4,780). 

The cutting of salaries and the most recent freeze on providing free or subsidized rent has increased fears that the Holy See is hovering on the brink of a financial crisis. According to The Pillar, who gained access to the rescript, the most recent policy change was undertaken to address the current economic crisis, which Pope Francis said “has shown me the need for everyone to make an extraordinary sacrifice to allocate more resources to the mission of the Holy See.”