Vatican Museums weigh on papal budget: 53 million euro hole

Financial difficulties for the Vatican Museums: this is revealed today in an article in Repubblica, by Paolo Rodari, which explains that for 2020 the Holy See forecasts a deficit of 53 million caused largely by the museums’ lack of income, and again according to the forecasts, the negative balance is expected to worsen due to the effects due to the Covid crisis, which has already caused nefarious effects to the museums, having forced them to close for two months, resulting in zero revenue from ticketing.

And despite the reopening, the museums have not recovered at all: suffice it to say that in the month of June there were about sixty thousand visitors, mostly Romans. There has been an almost complete lack of tourists, and the effects have been felt, because the Vatican Museums are visited annually by nearly 6 million people, with an average of about 500,000 visitors a month, rising in the summer period: this year, therefore, the reopening has brought about one-tenth of the usual visitors to the institution during this period. And as a result, revenues were also heavily reduced: June 2020 brought about one million euros to the museums’ coffers, compared to the 12.5 million that museums collect on average in a normal month of operation.

Repubblica heard from Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy, who reported that “between 2016 and 2020 there were average revenues of 270 million a year against about 320 million in expenditures”: the latter, however, would be justified. In the Vatican’s budget, the article says, being a “mission” budget, there are disposable expenses such as those related to evangelization and world missions that weigh in at 8.5 percent. Then there are personnel expenses that take up 45 percent of the budget, while those for communication amount to 15 percent, and a 10 percent is invested in building maintenance. And then there is also money for donations and charity to people in need. And the Vatican has seen growing shortfalls since 2015: fewer transfers from wealthy dioceses in the U.S. (due to reparations to victims of sexual abuse), fewer donations, low returns on financial investments.

The Vatican’s hope is to restart with the museums at full capacity from 2021, when a revival in tourism is expected. And to attract visitors, the Vatican Museums are already preparing some novelties, such as extended hours until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, weekendhappy hour with a tour that includes wine “refreshments” in the courtyard of the Pinecone, or special freebies such as the one that was granted, in June, to doctors and nurses, for the space of a week. Initiatives with which the Vatican Museums hope to attract more and more visitors.

Vatican Museums weigh on papal budget: 53 million euro hole

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