The anti-populist Pope

The Vatican’s austerity measures are over. At midday today, Leo XIV’s motu proprio was published, repealing “Un futuro sostenibile”, the apostolic letter by Pope Francis dating from March 2021, in which he established ‘wage restraint measures’ that suspended the accrual of biennial seniority increments and cut the salaries of cardinals, superiors, clergy and religious by between three and ten per cent (the ten per cent applied to cardinals, who were the hardest hit). Five and a half years later, the new Pope has decided that it is time to return to the past, given that the circumstances that led to Bergoglio’s decision “can now be overcome”. Among the circumstances that led to the pay cuts was the Covid pandemic, which deprived the Vatican’s coffers of the substantial income from the Vatican Museums, which remained closed.

Now that the hordes of visitors have returned (and not just since yesterday), we can turn the page. Obviously, there remains the “certainty that the institutions of the Holy See and the Vatican City State will continue, using various means, in their commitment to ensuring economic sustainability”. As for the pay rises, which affected everyone – though for lay staff only from the fourth pay band upwards, thus sparing those on the lowest incomes – the motu proprio clarifies that “the effects produced during the period of validity” of Pope Francis’s document remain in force “once and for all”. In essence, what was applied at the time remains unchanged. It represents a significant gift from the Pope to his staff on his 71st birthday. The decision is likely to provoke controversy among vocal critics who argue that the Church’s leadership fails to prioritize the needs of the poor. This is a familiar refrain to which observers have become accustomed.