Vatican releases financial, budget data amid scandal

  Vatican released a detailed budget, balance sheet and earning statement for first time ever Thursday as it seeks to reassure Catholics amid a corruption scandal that has exposed its shoddy financial manment.

data marked first time since 2016 that Vatican has released any information about its finances, despite pledges by Pope Francis from start of his pontificate in 2013 to be more transparent and accountable.

data showed that Vatican bureaucracy had narrowed its deficit to 11 million euros from 75 million euros in 2018, despite a continued fall in donations from dioceses and individuals alike.

But more than earnings statement, consolidated report provided first-kwn publicly released information about Vatican Curia’s net equity — estimated at 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion), though that figure blooms to as much as 4 billion euros including Vatican Museums, Vatican bank and or sources of funding.

And it also marked first time Vatican has made public how its operating budget is divided among various Holy See offices, which serve as central government of 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church.

Astonishingly, Congregation for Doctrine of Faith - in recent decades perhaps best-kwn Vatican office because it processes all clergy sex abuse cases - operates on an annual budget of 3.36 million euros. That represents 1% of Curia’s budget for its apostolic work, far less than what is budgeted for Vatican's Apostolic Library or Archives.

Congregation has long complained it has far too few people or resources to process mountain of cases that have come to Vatican in recent years - cases that have cost U.S. dioceses and religious orders more than $3 billion in legal settlements to victims of clergy abuse and fees.

Vatican released information ahead of Sunday collection for Peter's Pence, special extra donation Catholic faithful are asked to make once a year to support pope's charitable works and to fund operations of Holy See.

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