A rich dividend is about to arrive in the coffers of Pope Leo XIVequal to 13.8 million euros. This was stated by the counts of the IOR, the institute for religion works, or the Vatican Bank, which closed 2024 with a useful increase of 7% to 32.8 million euros, favored by a growth of the margin of interest and commissions. The figure is slightly higher than that paid to Pope Francis in 2024, referring to the budget results of 2023, which amounted to 13.6 million.
The accounts in detail
The margin of interest has grown up on 5.8%, While the commission and intermediation respectively of 13.2% and 3.6% respectively compared to 2023
A time at loss, now the institution has been restored under Pope Francis and today he devoted himself to the ordinary bank activity on behalf of the Holy See, of the religious orders, the parishes, the clergy and the Vatican employees. The IOR is in fact the only institution of the Holy See authorized to provide financial services and, based on the new legal framework, is intended to become the safe of all the Vatican assets.
Today Ior has further 100 employees and 12 thousand customers, all with a close relationship with the Catholic Church or the Holy See. The growth of 7% of its net profit is the result of the increase in the “margin of interest, the commission margin and the intermediation margin, together with careful cost control”, underlines the bank in the note.
Expectations for 2025
What is expected for 2025? Growth should continue, even if, according to the deputy dg of the Ior, Giovanni Boscia, the Vatican could also have problems, given the difficulty that the markets have been experiencing for months:
To date, the line set in 2024 continues to give positive signs. Of course, on the markets the situation can evolve in different ways; However, we can say that under all business profiles the trend is positive.
It will certainly not be the dividends of the IOR to remedy the financial difficulties of the budget of the Holy Sitebut contribute significantly every year to reducing the hole. The penultimate budget of the Vatican ended with 83.5 million operating deficits after registering 1,152.1 million revenue and expenses for 1,235.6 million.
The gear change with Bergoglio
The line of penalty in the expenses set by Bergoglio will therefore have to continue and Prevost has already given indications in this sense. “Leone XIV has been absorbed to the papal throne for too little time, but I know that it refers in many respects to the previous indications,” explains the general manager of Ior, Gian Franco Mammì. “The basic theme remains that of transparency and compliance with the laws. If indications and suggestions will come from the pontiff, we will be ready to welcome them”.
Among the decisions taken by Pope Francis there have been to increase rents to the cardinals and cut them salaryin addition to a series of financial maneuvers that led the small state of the Vatican city to be removed from blacklist of tax havens.
