According to the Rev. Juan A. Guerrero, the Jesuit priest who heads the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, in 2018, the fund drew 74 million euros ($77.1 million); by 2020, it dwindled to 44 million euros ($45.8 million) in 2020.
Newsroom (21/06/2022 9:45 AM Gaudium Press) In a push toward financial transparency, the Vatican, on Thursday (June 16), published the 2021 annual report of the pope’s charitable fund known as Peter’s Pence.
The report shows the fund earned 46.9 million euros (about $49 million) in donations last year but spent 65.3 million euros ($68 million) on charitable works and sustaining the expenses of the departments and offices that make up the Roman Curia.
Catholics in the United States made the most significant contribution to the Vatican’s Peter’s Pence fund in 2021, with a donation of $13 million, representing almost 30% of all donations. After U.S. Catholics, Catholics in Italy gave the second-largest amount at 5 million euros ($5.2 million). Germany was in third place, with 2.3 million euros, followed by South Korea, France, Spain, Brazil, Ireland, the Czech Republic, and Canada.
The income of the pope’s charitable fund increased overall by 2.9 million euros in 2021, quashing an earlier prediction that contributions would decrease by 15% from the year before.
According to the report, the difference of 18.4 million euros ($19 million) was taken from the patrimony, or endowment, of Peter’s Pence, which offered no further details.
In 2018 the fund drew 74 million euros ($77.1 million), which had dwindled to 44 million euros ($45.8 million) in 2020, according to the Rev. Juan A. Guerrero, the Jesuit priest who heads the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy. Financial scandals, sexual abuse, and other revelations have progressively lessened donations to Peter’s Pence from individual Catholics and dioceses around the world. The charitable fund has been under scrutiny lately due to the purchase of a luxury real estate in London by the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, which cost the institution well over $200 million, most of it from funds derived from Peter’s Pence. Since the scandal erupted, Francis moved the management of Peter’s Pence from the powerful Secretariat of State to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, known by its Italian acronym, APSA, which is charged with overseeing the Catholic institution’s real estate and investment portfolio. APSA, historically another black box within the Vatican’s financial system, released a financial report for the first time in 2021.
The report stated that the fund spent 9.8 million euros ($10.2 million) on projects to help dioceses in need, sustain new churches and other social projects, funding 157 projects in 67 countries. Examples included founding a school in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe; building dormitories for a church in the Diocese of Rumbek, South Sudan; and constructing a parish church in the Diocese of Bongaigaon in India.
The report specified that the Vatican spent an additional 35 million euros ($36.4 million) apart from Peter’s Pence to carry out its apostolic mission.
The majority of Peter’s Pence, 55.5 million euros ($58 million), went to pay for the expenses of the 70 departments, or dicasteries, that make up the Roman Curia. The report stated that the Roman Curia cost 237.7 million euros ($247.6 million) in 2021 and that Peter’s Pence covered 23% of its expenses.
The highest percentage of the funds was sent to departments charged with supporting local churches, communication and evangelization.
Pope Francis’ reforms have made an effort to cut the costs of the Vatican bureaucracy, merging departments and eliminating redundancies. In 2019, Peter’s Pence paid for 32% of the expenses of the Roman Curia.
Until recently, the provenance of the donations that make up Peter’s Pence has remained as mysterious as their use. The report revealed, however, that the majority of the money comes from dioceses (65.3%), followed by foundations (22%), private donors (9%) and religious orders (3.7%).
(VIA CNA and RNS)
Compiled by Raju Hasmukh
