Vatican hit by economic downturn: official figures

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI has not escaped the economic downturn, with donations hit by the global financial storm, official figures showed Saturday.

The Vatican City ended 2008 with a deficit of 15 million euros (21 million dollars) and had been affected "like other states, by the economic and financial crisis", a statement said.

Gifts from churches to the head of the Roman Catholic Church had gone down, particularly at the festivals of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and came to around 54 million euros (76 million dollars), the Vatican said

This represented "a small drop due to the economic situation," it added. But the finances of the Holy See fared much better in the downturn.

The see registered a deficit of around 911,510 euros (1,275,000 dollars), much improved from the previous year's deficit of nine million euros (12.6 million dollars).

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the pope, and the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

The biggest donations last year were made by American, Italian and German Catholics, and the countries with the highest number of contributors were South Korea and Japan.

The Vatican City ended 2008 with a deficit of 15 million euros (21 million dollars) and had been affected "like other states, by the economic and financial crisis", a statement said. Gifts from churches to the head of the Roman Catholic Church had gone down, particularly at the festivals of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and came to around 54 million euros (76 million dollars), the Vatican said....

....The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the pope, and the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church. It is distinct from the Vatican City, which is a city state. The biggest donations last year were made by American, Italian and German Catholics, and the countries with the highest number of contributors were South Korea and Japan.

From 2007, related thread Church pays heavy price as America takes note of a scandal

America’s 70 million Roman Catholics, the largest denomination in the United States, significantly scaled down their donations to the Church after a sexual abuse crisis erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston in early 2002.
Yet this loss of financial heart, during which only 2 per cent of American Catholics stepped up their contributions in 2002, proved to be only temporary. As the scandals have drifted from the headlines, donations are now back up to their previous level, of about $7.5 billion (£3.8 billion) a year, according to Charles Zech, the author of a study into Catholic church finances and director for the Centre for the Study of Church Management at Villanova....
....A survey by Mr Zech this year found that 85 per cent of America’s 174 Catholic dioceses had discovered embezzlement of Church money in the previous five years, with 11 per cent reporting that more than $500,000 had been stolen. In one extreme case, two priests from Palm Beach, Florida, have pleaded not guilty to stealing $8.6 million over more than 40 years. In his survey Mr Zech recommended random internal and external audits of parishes and the disclosure of every member of the Diocesan Finance Council, along with their conflict of interest guidelines.

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