The Vatican closed 2024 with a budget surplus, it says, signalling a turnaround after years of deficits that had frustrated church leaders, including the late Pope Francis.
In its first budget report since 2022, the Vatican said it had registered a “significant recovery” in its accounts last year, achieving a surplus of 1.6 million euro ($A2.8 million), thanks mainly to higher donations and strong investment gains.
It said it had managed to cut the structural deficit – the gap between ordinary revenues and ordinary expenses – by 50 per cent but acknowledged that this still amounted to 44 million euros, underscoring the long-term financial challenges facing Pope Leo.
“The report highlights a clear improvement and, while prudently recognising that full financial sustainability is a long-term goal, a clearly positive direction can be observed,” a press statement said.
Francis, who died in April, had long struggled to get the Vatican’s budget under control.
He was battling firm resistance from his own cardinals in his last months as he sought to plug the gap in the Vatican’s finances, and slashed cardinals’ salaries three times from 2021 to 2024.
Although the Vatican had not published its accounts in three years, the last set of accounts, approved in mid-2024, included an 83-million-euro shortfall, two sources told Reuters at the time.
Reuters was not able to verify the previous deficit figure independently.
The Vatican, a microstate within Rome, has limited fiscal options.
It does not issue debt, sell bonds or levy taxes.
The Vatican has three main income streams: it takes donations, it has an investment portfolio and it makes money from admissions to the Vatican Museums.
It also owns the Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital in Rome, which is a source of revenue.
The Holy See said revenues rose by 79 million euros last year, driven by external donations and income from its hospital in Rome, while expenses increased by 40 million euros.
Financial management delivered 46 million euros in “positive results,” boosted by capital gains from the sale of historical investments following the launch of a new investment committee.
“This performance … (played) a key role in covering the operating deficit,” the statement said.
It said “2024 could be a turning point if, after years of stable or growing operating deficit, the Holy See (continues) the reduction of its operating deficit in the coming years”.
“It is important to underline that this improvement is mainly due to an increase in donations,” it said.
“It will be necessary to confirm this progress in the coming years.”
The new report does not include data about the growing liabilities within the Vatican’s pension fund, which were estimated to total 631 million euros by the Vatican’s finance chief in a 2022 media interview.
The liabilities are believed by insiders to have ballooned since.
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