VATICAN CITY (RNS) — When Pope Leo XIV sat down for his first interview after his election as pontiff with Elise Allen at Crux, he surprised many Vatican watchers by stating that he was not particularly concerned by the historically troubled finances of the Catholic institution.
“We have to keep working on it,” he said, “but it doesn’t keep me up at night.”
That phrase stood at odds with the Vatican’s history of financial scandals and lack of transparency — including the death of “God’s banker” Roberto Calvi in 1982 and the more recent scandal tied to the Vatican’s purchase of prime real estate in London.
The Holy See, which includes not only the departments of the Vatican curia but also papal embassies and representatives all over the world, has been functioning on a structural deficit for years. Even though the Holy See reported a 1.6 million euro surplus for 2024, its structural deficit remained around 44 million euro, roughly half the deficit of the previous year.
But Leo inherited a financial situation that is improved compared with his predecessors, and above all his popularity in the first year — especially among U.S. Catholics — has already started filling the coffers of the Vati …