NEWS STORY: Vatican reports 1998 budget surplus for sixth straight year but below 1997

c. 1999 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ The Vatican reported Thursday (July 8) its finances were in the black in 1998 but said the budget surplus was well below 1997 and warned that preparations for the Holy Year 2000 require heavy spending this year. “I am happy to report that in 1998, for the […]

c. 1999 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ The Vatican reported Thursday (July 8) its finances were in the black in 1998 but said the budget surplus was well below 1997 and warned that preparations for the Holy Year 2000 require heavy spending this year.

“I am happy to report that in 1998, for the sixth consecutive year, the consolidated financial statement of the Holy See closed with a gain, although a small one,” Archbishop Sergio Sebastiani, president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, told a Vatican news conference.


Sebastiani said income totaled 338.5 billion lire and spending 336 billion lire for a net surplus of 2.5 billion lire, significantly below the record 19 billion lire gain in 1997. Calculated at the Vatican’s end-of-the year exchange rate of 1,653.1 lire to the dollar, income was $204.8 million and spending $203.3 million, leaving a net surplus of $1.5 million.”With the approach of the Great Jubilee of 2000, (expenses) are growing,”Sebastiani said.”It is not possible for me to predict what the real requirements for the year 2000 will be, but it is certain that there will be major expenses.””Maybe there will also be more donations. Let’s hope so,”he added.

Sebastiani said the Vatican relies on contributions from dioceses, religious orders, institutions and foundations and individual Catholics to help meet its normal expenses.

The Vatican will need increased contributions to balance the increased spending for the year 2000, Sebastiani said. City officials estimate the jubilee will attract more than 26 million pilgrims to Rome and the Vatican.

The drop in last year’s surplus as compared to 1997 was due in part to lower revenues from the sale of securities and a fall of more than 100 points in the value of the dollar, the prelate said. This year’s stronger dollar, now worth more than 1,890 lire,”gives breathing space,”he said.

The Vatican nevertheless reported a profit from interest, dividends, sales of securities and other financial operations in 1998. The Vatican also derives revenue from its real estate holdings.

Sebastiani said contributions, including those which canon law requires dioceses to make, rose to about $22 million. This was more than triple the level of 1992, the first year the Vatican returned to the black.

“This solidarity has enabled the Holy See to interrupt the long and worrying period in which all its operating statements closed with a loss,” the prelate said. “Without these donations, we would still be in the same situation of deficit.”


The Holy See budget covers the activities of the Roman Curia, the church’s central administration, and staff of 2,581 persons, its diplomatic missions, Vatican Radio, which broadcasts worldwide in 46 languages, a growing television operation, the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and a printing and publishing unit.

The budget does not include the Vatican city-state and the Vatican Museums, which had small surplus last year from the sale of stamps and souvenirs and admission charges. Also excluded is the Institute for Religious Works, the Vatican Bank, which was severely affected by the $2 billion collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in 1982.

In a separate statement, the Vatican said that the annual Peter’s Pence collection for the pope’s charitable works totaled $52.8 million last year. It said John Paul II donated the funds to church charities in developing countries and to meet emergencies, particularly those caused by natural disasters.

The council of cardinals overseeing the Vatican’s organization and economic affairs expressed”deep gratitude to all those men and women of good will”_ and especially to church groups _ who donated funds to help the poor and the needy.

DEA END POLK

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