The recent financial report of the Holy See, which presents a surplus of 1.6 million euros and a significant reduction in the structural deficit, has been received with evident satisfaction in some sectors. However, this optimistic reading contrasts with the reaction within the Vatican itself. The Associazione Dipendenti Laici Vaticani (ADLV) published a statement in which it assures that many workers received the news “with skepticism and greater uncertainty about their future”. For the association, what is presented as a historic turning point in the accounts is not the fruit of a real recovery, but of exceptional factors that cannot be considered a reliable indicator of stability.
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Insufficient transparency and incomplete documents
The ADLV emphasizes that the Vatican continues to fail to publish a complete and detailed budget, with certified documentation that allows for an evaluation of the underlying situation. Instead, summary presentations are offered that do not substitute for a full balance sheet. According to the employees, this opacity prevents a rigorous assessment of the supposed advances and makes it hard to believe in a solid improvement as long as there is no effective transparency. The surplus, they assert, cannot be celebrated when the essential data supporting it have not been shown.
A surplus supported by donations and exceptional capital gains
The statement insists that the positive results are not the consequence of structural decisions or more efficient management, but of the increase in external donations and capital gains obtained thanks to an exceptionally favorable behavior of the financial markets. The improvement, therefore, is explained more by circumstances external to the Vatican than by a real internal reform. Although the official figures show progress, the ADLV warns that nothing indicates that this trend will be maintained and reminds that the underlying problem remains intact.
Stagnant working conditions and concern for pensions
While encouraging figures are disseminated, employees continue to face salaries frozen since 2008, the lack of restitution of the biennial salary cut, and a constant loss of purchasing power. Added to this is the concern over the pension fund, whose real situation continues to be undeclared in a transparent manner. The association denounces that, despite the increase in the budget allocated to personnel, the majority of workers have not experienced any improvement. The feeling, both according to the ADLV and according to independent analyses such as that of The Pillar, is that the increase in spending benefits above all executive levels and not the staff as a whole.
A labor structure that needs a deep review
The association recalls that the new General Regulations of the Roman Curia require periodic review of staffing, functions, and selection processes. That review, according to the employees, would allow correcting inequalities, improving the distribution of work, and ensuring fair treatment. For the ADLV, this reform is not only necessary but urgent, as efficiency and equity will not be achieved while a rigid, unequal, and opaque structure persists.
A call to be heard
The statement concludes with a clear request: the Vatican must listen to those who sustain the functioning of the Curia every day. The ADLV offers to collaborate in a constructive and free manner, but demands to be taken into account in decisions that directly affect the personnel. In their opinion, the announced surplus cannot turn into triumphalism when the internal reality remains precarious. The Church, they assert, must apply within its walls the same principles of justice, transparency, and labor dignity that it proclaims to the world.
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