The austerity era is over

Pope Leo XIV published a Motu Proprio on Monday repealing the salary cuts Pope Francis imposed on Holy See personnel in March 2021. The pandemic emergency that justified them has passed.

“With the Covid-19 emergency now over, the austerity measures associated with that period can also be brought to an end.”

Why Francis cut pay

The Vatican was already running a deficit, and Covid hit every source of revenue for the Holy See and Vatican City State. Francis called his 2021 law A Sustainable Future.

“the deficit that has characterised the economic management of the Holy See for several years”

Cuts to spare the staff

The reductions were a spending review meant to avoid harsher options, above all firing employees. Francis was thinking of lay staff, especially mothers and fathers supporting families.

Who lost what

Cardinals in the Curia took a 10 percent cut. Heads and secretaries of Dicasteries, in grades C and C1, lost 8 percent. Clergy and members of religious institutes took 3 percent.

The frozen pay rises

The law also suspended the seniority increases normally granted every two years. For lay employees it applied only from level four up, so the lowest salaries were left alone.

What stays gone

The repeal takes effect 1 September 2026, after a partial amendment in June 2025. Everything the law already did stands, including the seniority increases that never accrued.

“which remain definitively acquired”