The pope's salary: How does the pontiff get paid?

The person of the Roman Catholic Church does not get paid what galore see a accepted salary. Instead, the Vatican provides for the pontiff's needs, from housing, food, proscription and different expenses successful the signifier of stipends and allowances.

The Vatican, referred to arsenic "the world's smallest country," is sustained by "an system that relies connected a operation of donations, backstage enterprises, and investments to make revenue," according to Investopedia.  

Pope Francis declined immoderate benignant of wage erstwhile helium took bureau successful 2013, The Economic Times reported backmost successful February, adding that the pontiff astatine the clip had a nett worthy of "around $16 million, which includes assorted assets provided to him arsenic the pope."

The Vatican's fiscal concern has been successful peril for years, with its yearly operating shortage increasing to implicit $90 cardinal successful 2023, according to reports. In November, Pope Francis warned that the Vatican's pension money — which provides pensions to employees of the Holy See and Vatican City State — has been facing a "severe prospective imbalance" that "tends to turn implicit clip successful the lack of interventions," according to the Vatican News.

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This photograph shows tourer goods including station cards (R) connected stands, with St Peter's Basilica of The Vatican successful the background, successful Rome connected May 5, 2025. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP)

The governing assemblage of the Vatican, besides known arsenic the Holy See, doesn't supply nonstop numbers regarding its finances. However, the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook estimated its revenues and expenditures successful 2013 notched $315 cardinal and $348 million, respectively.  

It generates this wealth done assorted avenues. According to the Michigan Journal of Economics, the Holy See generates immoderate of its gross done Peter’s Pence, which is simply a word that describes donations collected from Catholics astir the satellite and fixed to the Pope connected an yearly basis. This accounts for $27 cardinal each year, with the largest contributions deriving from the United States, Germany and Italy, according to American Magazine.

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Rosary beads depicting Pope Francis were offered for 1 euro connected March 17, 2025, successful Vatican City, Vatican.  (Christopher Furlong)

A young visitant of a Catholic Church work donates wealth into a handbasket handed astir successful Bavaria, Kaufbeuren, successful July 2019.  ( Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance)

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Fox News Digital reached retired to the Vatican and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for much accusation astir however the pope gets paid, but did not instantly perceive back.