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Summary
- The Holy See’s consolidated balance sheet for 2021 showed €3.9 billion in assets and €1.6 billion in net assets, and in 2024 it made a surplus of €1.6 million after a deficit of €51.2 million in 2023.
- APSA, which manages the Holy See’s property and investments, reported net assets of €2.686 billion for 2025, with 4,281 property units in Italy and about 1,200 abroad.
- The Vatican Bank, the IOR, was founded in 1942, and in 2025 it held €5.9 billion of its clients’ assets and paid the Pope a dividend of €24.3 million.
- Peter’s Pence received €54.5 million in donations in 2025, and the United States gave more than any other country.
- No single figure covers the whole Catholic Church, because under canon law each parish, diocese and religious order owns its own goods.
- In December 2023 the Vatican’s tribunal convicted Cardinal Angelo Becciu of embezzlement over a London property deal. In March 2026 the Court of Appeal ruled that prosecutors’ procedural errors required a new trial, and it ordered parts of the first trial held again.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- King James Version: Matthew 19:21; Matthew 26:8–11; Acts 4:34–35, BibleGateway.
- Holy See Press Office, “Secretariat for the Economy: Holy See Consolidated Financial Statements 2024”, 25 November 2025, press.vatican.va.
- Vatican News, “Holy See closes 2024 with a surplus of 1.6 million euro”, 25 November 2025, vaticannews.va.
- Vatican News, “Caballero: ‘Positive signs for Holy See’s finances, now realism and prudence’”, interview with Maximino Caballero Ledo, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy (quoting Pope Leo XIV), 26 November 2025, vaticannews.va.
- Vatican News, “Fr. Guerrero on Holy See Financial Statement: New steps in transparency, sustainability”, 5 August 2022, vaticannews.va.
- Vatican News, “APSA: 2025 Financial Statements show stronger Net Assets and continued service to Holy See”, 31 July 2026, vaticannews.va.
- Istituto per le Opere di Religione, “IOR: Financial statements as of December 31, 2025 approved”, press release, 11 May 2026, press.vatican.va (PDF).
- Pope Francis, Chirograph for the new Statutes of the Institute for the Works of Religion, 8 August 2019, vatican.va.
- Vatican News, “Peter’s Pence 2025: EUR 54.5 million to support Pope’s mission of charity”, 30 June 2026, vaticannews.va.
- Code of Canon Law, Book V, The Temporal Goods of the Church, canons 1254, 1256, 1271 and 1292, vatican.va.
- Patti Lateranensi: Treaty between the Holy See and Italy, art. 18, and the Financial Convention, 11 February 1929 (Italian text), vatican.va.
- Pope Francis, motu proprio Fidelis dispensator et prudens, 24 February 2014, vatican.va.
- Pope Francis, Apostolic Letter motu proprio regarding certain competencies in economic and financial matters, 26 December 2020, vatican.va.
- Pope Francis, Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium on the Roman Curia, 19 March 2022, arts. 205–229, vatican.va.
- Pope Leo XIV, Apostolic Letter motu proprio Coniuncta cura, 29 September 2025 (Italian text), vatican.va.
- Vatican News, “Pope Leo issues new motu proprio concerning Holy See investments” (Coniuncta cura), 6 October 2025, vaticannews.va.
- Vatican News, “Vatican trial defendants sentenced to total of 37 years in prison”, 16 December 2023, vaticannews.va.
- Vatican News, “Vatican Appeal Court orders partial mistrial in Holy See funds trial”, 17 March 2026, vaticannews.va.
- Pope Francis, Message to participants in the conference for the centenary of the Permanent Commission for the Protection of the Historical and Artistic Monuments of the Holy See, 22 November 2023, vatican.va.
- Vatican City State, “Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage”, vaticanstate.va, and “Geography”, vaticanstate.va.
- “Earthly concerns”, The Economist, 18 August 2012, as reprinted by BishopAccountability.org.
- Msgr Charles Pope, “Why doesn’t the Vatican sell its treasures to help those in need?”, Our Sunday Visitor, 9 April 2024, oursundayvisitor.com.
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