Vatican Runs Deficit Amid Global Economic Crisis

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican said Saturday it ran a deficit in 2008 as its finances and donations from across the world were hit by the global economic crisis.

The Vatican posted a budget deficit for a second straight year, though the figures improved strongly from 2007. The Holy See's 2008 deficit was around euro0.9 million ($1.28 million), compared with a loss of euro9.06 million a year earlier.

The financial report released Saturday by the Holy See's press office listed revenues of euro253.9 million and expenses for euro254.8 million.

Most of expenses went to support the activities of Pope Benedict XVI and the Holy See's offices, especially Vatican Radio and other media divisions, the report said.

It said the separate administration of the Vatican City state was particularly hit by the economic crisis. High costs to restore the Vatican's cultural treasures and ensure security left the tiny state with a euro15.3 million deficit, after closing 2007 with a euro6.7 million gain.

The Vatican said annual donations from churches worldwide, the so-called Peter's Pence, were down to almost $75.8 million from $79.8 million in 2007. Leading donors were faithful in the United States, Italy and Germany.

The pope uses the fund to help churches in poor countries and other charitable causes.

The Vatican has published the annual report since 1981, when Pope John Paul II ordered financial disclosure as part of his efforts to debunk the idea that the Vatican is rich.

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On the Net:

http://www.vatican.va

(This version CORRECTS UPDATES with details; corrects larger loss was in 2007, not last year.)

Comments

[kjstjohn]

To HPdevotee. The answer to your quastion about the Gospel of Thomas:

Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life." Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven.

This passage was believed to have been added to the original at a later date.

[HPdevotee]

Thank you for answering.

And those pesky misogynists..never know when they're going to add some thing, huh. Why hell, the whole holy book could be infested..guess we'll never know for sure.

[kjstjohn]

It was added but, in context, it is not misogynistic IMO. Jesus did not actually turn women into men. He turned them into the equals of men--which was the best that poor old Simon Peter could understand.

Imagine how scandalous it must have been for Jewish women to be turned into men. I believe this passage to be authentic Jesus because of Paul's troubles with cross-dressing women in Corinthians.

[kjstjohn]

I believe the passage is authentic. It ties in with the problems Paul confronted with the Corinthian women who were cr0$$dressing.

[idontknowanything]

Why do religions seek to suppress the feminine?

[kjstjohn]

I think there are many reasons but one thing I have noticed among Christian fundamentalists is that females use mock subservience as a means of domesticating the males.

[richdibo]

Remember the Vatican's dealings with the collapsed Banco Ambrosiano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26g5o_FfHYg

The Vatican's finances have an Enron-like complexity.

[richdibo]

S.F. accuses church of dodging taxes

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/05/MNJ0180DCU.DTL

Such impoverished . . . . . . .$!

[KeysDan]

The Vatican has been running a thought deficit for centuries. Just a new wrinkle on an old face.

[LeeCalif]

They pay no property or income tax.

Talk about mismanagement of funds. With a little em bezzlement possibly thrown in.

[jbrantow]

maybe if they didn't have to pay for all those lawsuits....

[richdibo]

Why doesn't the Vatican consider an electric pope-mobile to cut expenses.

[CAHertzfe]

This religion was built on money and the slavery of the people they tried to convert. This religion will be destroyed by the same.

[helonias]

Just ask the aboriginal peoples of the Americas and Australia

[Grada3784]

Australia was more the Anglican turf than that of the RCC. But the Spanish-Portuguese speaking areas of the Americas fall right on the Vatican doorstep.

[kjstjohn]

I believe that Jesus will persist as one of the world's great lights. I do not see a future (assuming we have a long-term future) for any of the Christian churches.

[AZterritory]

Well said, pontifical Ponzi schemes for centuries.

[DXM]

The Vatican is not rich? Now that's rich! If the Vatican was really interested in helping the poor and doing the legitimate work of their founder, they would get rid of their bloated world wide bureaucracy, sell of the riches (painting, sculpture, villas, etc.) of the Vatican (many of which can be easily argued were stolen or acquired from the poor of Europe and elsewhere by less than honest means e.g. indulgences), rid themselves of the last medieval vestiges of their long dead secular empire (i.e. Vatican City itself - that sort of real estate in the center of Rome would fetch a pretty lira!) and start living a humbler life in a Christ-like fashion. And all that money they still take in world wide can actually be used for something that could make a real world of difference.

[CitizenFarmer]

Rahm should also do the same with the million or so in campaign funds he is holding on to. Maybe he'll send it to Israel so they can buy some more white phosphorus.

[John Horner]

How anyone can read the New Testament and support the way the Vatican goes about doing what it does is a mystery to me. Where did Jesus ever call for the veneration of Saints or the worship of his mother? When did Jesus ever call for the leaders of his church to live in lavish surroundings and dress in expensive clothing? When did Jesus call for spending money on the restoration of cultural treasures? Do you really think Jesus would be happy with the Vatican if he were to reappear there in person today?

[Steamboater]

True, but you know how it is with these Jewish boys; hey love their mothers. )

[Pleneras]

jajaja!

[jweider]

Actually when Jesus told his followers to pray by going into their prayer closets and praying in private he was telling his followers that he intended for his church to a strictly private matter of each individual.
But that wouldn't work very well for pope ratzschitz becasue there is no profit in it.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

The rape and abuse scandals hit them financially too.


Hopefully more pay-outs to come.

[kjstjohn]

I believe it is preferable for churches to be poor.

[NevaforLeadership]

It would be preferable for them to be non existent.

[richdibo]

It is more profitable for the church to be poor. Or make people think that they are poor.

Please excuse my dyslexia.

If believers thought they had a lot of money, some people will be more reluctant to donate the required 10% of their income. Gulp!

Notice how some use Huff Post as their infomercial. Maybe the Vatican expected that more people would donate after reading about their deficit.

Like Falwell and Robertson, the Vatican can huckster the credulous for tithes to supplement it depleted cash flow. Emphasizing a pressing need for funds, they can frighten their flock to cough up more to save Africa, and Asia and other places in need of strategic monetary support to win over converts.

Christianity and the salvation of millions of souls will be doomed without your support!
Sorry, I misplaced my check book.

They are not “poor;” they have cash flow problems. The dioceses in Boston generated millions in cash for judgments after selling properties. They should sell more property. This would increase a city’s tax base. People don’t realize how much valuable commercial property that the church owns. I could be wrong, but recall that years ago in Boston about 1/4 or 1/2 of the city’s tax base was tax-exempt because it is owned by churches, schools, hospitals, etc.

[Pleneras]

Uses the funds to support a rich life in the Vatican! Sell the treasures you've taken from countries thoughout the centuries!

[PaceSetter]

got no cash flow when all the diocese are being successfully sued by ex-alter boys.

[bobo5]

What's the guy in the pink cap sucking on?

[richdibo]

You can buy one at the local adult bookstore.

[opine2u]

Over a decade ago, Pope John Paul, opened the sealed door to the treasures of the Vatican, which had been sealed for ages, and the short little glimpse of what the cameras caught on the screen was not only spectacular it was staggering to say the least. The door was closed off to the public almost immediately as even those in the Vatican were shocked as to how much opulence was found and broadcast, they had no idea that they had opened the Pandora's Box of Riches right in front of the world. It was a shame because some of what was seen, should be seen again or put on display for all to see, especially the artworks and great paintings. We're privy to only the tip of their iceberg. I have no sympathy for that tax free organization at all, even though they call themselves a church.

[Roses]

What was there?
St. Peters seems pretty lavish to me already.

[BigBagel]

Gold! Gold I tell you. Catholic gold stolen from god fearing Protestants like my grannie.

[Pleneras]

http://www.concordatwatch.eu/showdoc.php?org_id=843&doc_id=1821

Seek and you shall find

[njgal4obama]

Pope John Paul the First ordered an audit of the Vatican Finances, managed by Bishop Marcinkus, who was in bed with the Mafia.

Within a few days, the healthy, robust young Pope was dead.

[richdibo]

"Pandora's Box"

When did Barbara Bush become relevant to the discussion?

[Longbaugh]

How does the world's most visible institution for Jesus get away with such lavishness for so many centuries???

Here's an idea:

Sell the gold and save the poor.