The employees had raised the alarm a few months ago, now a letter from the Pope to the cardinals has confirmed that the feared intervention on Vatican pensions will take place. Last Thursday Francis he explicitly admitted that “the current system is not able to guarantee the fulfillment of the pension obligation for future generations in the medium term”. Hence the decision to appoint the cardinal Kevin Farrell sole administrator for the Pension Fund with the mandate to implement “urgent structural measures, no longer postponable“.
The zero deficit
The Vatican social security system was also designed to support a short retirementbut today it has to deal with the increase in life expectancy. Present and future employees, as emerges from Francesco’s letter, risk being left without appropriate social security coverage. In recent times the Pope has proven to be very sensitive to the Holy See’s negative accounts and this is already the second time he has evoked the “zero deficit as one of the main objectives to be pursued with determination ensure economic sustainability of our organization”. The problem is that there are few organizations that manage to contribute their revenues to the Holy See’s massive deficit. Among the most structures expensive there is certainly the Dicastery for communication which Francis announced the need to do at the end of October “money discipline.” The Pope then wanted to give a “cut” of around 500 euros also to the monthly “plate” of the cardinals working in the dicasteries of the Curia, while the “pensioners” already lost them by becoming emeritus. The squeeze on money, including the need to intervene on pensions, is due to the Secretariat for the Economy which after the financial reforms has become the most powerful body in the Vatican. It would be his prefect, the layman Maximino Caballero Ledothe great supporter of achieving zero deficit which is leading to the adoption of very unpopular measures in the Vatican.
The impact on the conclave
The cuts to ministries, cardinals’ positions and now to employee pensions are generating great discontent. The new sacrifices required of the cardinals and the maintenance of reductions introduced in the times of Covid could play a role in the future conclave. The electing members of the sacred college could ask for discontinuity on the economy: not so much out of opposition to expense containment policies, but rather out of the belief that the various reductions in their salaries are not at all decisive but are reduced to simple media moves. Francis has now entrusted the mission of to the faithful Cardinal Kevin Farrell intervene on the Pension Fund. The American cardinal will have a fundamental role in the next conclave because Francis wanted to appoint him camerlengo, entrusting him with the administration of the Church in a vacant seat. The numerous roles he currently holds, prefect of the dicastery for the laity, family and life, president of the reserved matters commission, president of the investment committee, make him the cardinal most exposed to the complaints of his brothers in a future conclave. The last time, in 2013, the chamberlain was Tarcisio Bertone who also included the role of Secretary of State and who, not surprisingly, according to various reconstructions, ended up in the dock in the general congregations which then paved the way for the election of the Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
Popes and work
In his last letter to the cardinals, Francis wrote that the management of the Pension Fund was “a topic at the center of the ‘concern’ of the Pontiffs who have succeeded one another since its institution”. Indeed it was John Paul II to establish it with the motu proprio “The Worry” of 8 September 1992. In 2010 instead Benedict XVI had approved the institution of voluntary contributions for personnel registered with the Pension Fund who, upon leaving service, had not acquired the right to a pension. In general, the theme of work has always been dear to the Pontiffs who have tried in their public speeches and in their decisions to enforce the principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Some Popes have been able to observe and describe the transformations in the world of work with foresight. Leo XIII made a fundamental contribution to bringing the Social Doctrine into modernity with the Rerum novarum of 1891. Less remembered is the commitment of Paul VI which he addressed precisely to the workers at the close of the Second Vatican Council. They have recently been published in the volume “Faith and work. Paul VI ad Aprilia and Pomezia” published by MiterThev editions of the diocese of Albano, two forgotten homilies that the Pope of Populorum Progressio pronounced in the “young” cities of Lazio. In them Montini wondered if “the Christian profession (…) is still a plant that can vegetate in the soil of modern life or whether it is instead a plant that is becoming sterile and dying precisely due to the phenomena of modern life”. The answer left no doubt: “I beg you, dearest children: be Christians! be Christians! Keep the faith of this blessed land called Italy. Keep the faith for your children, for your future fortunes, for your work and know that there is no incompatibility between the Christian faith and modern life”. Paul VI was especially concerned about the transition that was taking place at that time, between 1964 and 1965, from the countryside to the industries.
To the workers of Pomezia, Montini said: “Know, in this passage from ancient life to modern life, from the life of the fields to the life of the workshops, from the life of yesterday to that of today… know how to preserve your Christian faith and know that she is not against it to your well-being”.