The Council for the Economy discusses the Vatican pension fund

The Economic Council held an online meeting this week to discuss various challenges to the Vatican's finances, including the city-state pension fund.

According to a press release from the Holy See, the December 15 meeting also addressed aspects of the Vatican budget for 2021 and a draft statute for a new committee to help keep the Holy See's investments ethical and profitable.

Cardinal George Pell, former head of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, recently said the Vatican has a "very looming and sizable" deficit in its pension fund, like many countries in Europe.

As early as 2014, while still serving in the Vatican, Pell noted that the Holy See's pension fund was not in good condition.

Participants in Tuesday's virtual meeting included Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the Council for the Economy, and each of the cardinal members of the council. Six lay people and one lay person, appointed to the council by Pope Francis in August, from their respective countries also took part in the assembly.

Fr. Juan A. Guerrero, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy; Gian Franco Mammì, general director of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR); Nino Savelli, president of the pension fund; and Mons. Nunzio Galantino, president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA).

Galantino spoke about the Vatican's new "Investment Committee" in an interview in November.

The committee of "high-profile external professionals" will collaborate with the Council for the Economy and the Secretariat for the Economy to "guarantee the ethical nature of the investments, inspired by the social doctrine of the Church, and, at the same time, their profitability “He told the Italian magazine Famiglia Cristiana.

In early November, Pope Francis called for investment funds to be transferred from the Secretariat of State to APSA, Galantino's office.

The APSA, which acts as the treasury of the Holy See and manager of the sovereign wealth, manages the payroll and operating expenses for the Vatican City. It also oversees its own investments. It is currently in the process of taking over the financial funds and real estate assets which until now were administered by the Secretariat of State.

In another interview, Galantino also denied claims that the Holy See is heading towards financial "collapse".

“There is no danger of collapse or default here. There is only a need for a spending review. And that's what we're doing. I can prove it with numbers, ”he said, after a book claimed the Vatican may soon be unable to meet its normal operating expenses.

In May, Guerrero, prefect of the secretariat of the economy, said that in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Vatican expects a reduction in revenues of between 30% and 80% for the next fiscal year.

The Economic Council will hold its next meeting in February 2021.