Pope Leo XIV restores Vatican salaries cut under Francis and orders new archive buildings
The pope has ended the pay cuts imposed on cardinals and senior Vatican officials during the pandemic and decided that new document repositories will be built inside Vatican City rather than at the Lateran
Pope Leo XIV has ended the salary reductions introduced at the Vatican in 2021 and ordered the construction of new document repositories inside Vatican City.
According to zenit.org, Leo XIV began the second half of 2026 by reversing two measures taken by his predecessor, Pope Francis. The announcement was made at the Vatican on Monday, July 14, at a time when the Holy See's finances are showing signs of recovery while underlying structural imbalances remain.
The first decision concerns pay. Leo XIV has scrapped the salary reductions that Francis imposed during the pandemic, in force since March 2021 to address the financial deficit. Cardinals of the Roman Curia had their emoluments cut by 10 percent, heads and secretaries of dicasteries by 8 percent, and clergy and religious by 3 percent. The measures also froze biennial seniority increases for employees from salary grade four upward.
The new decree, retroactive to September 1, restores the salaries of cardinals and senior Vatican officials. The measure is not a full return to the pre-pandemic situation, because "there will be no reimbursement of the amounts previously withheld, nor will the seniority increases that were frozen between 2021 and 2023 be restored."
The decision comes as the Vatican's accounts have improved. The Holy See closed 2024 with a surplus of 1.6 million euros, compared with a deficit of 51.2 million euros in 2023. The structural deficit, which excludes financial market results, fell by almost half, from 83.5 million to 44.4 million euros. The improvement comes mainly from higher donations and stronger financial results, though Vatican officials warn that full sustainability has yet to be achieved.
Reorganization of the Vatican's documentary holdings
The second decision concerns the management of the Holy See's documentary and intellectual holdings. Collections in the Vatican Apostolic Archive and the Vatican Apostolic Library have grown to the point where new space is needed. In June 2024, Francis decided to expand both institutions at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary at the Lateran. Leo XIV has chosen a different solution and ordered new repositories built within the territory of Vatican City State.
The project will go up in the area known as the Fuente del Parque de Automóviles, or Fountain of the Vehicle Park, and calls for a building meeting current architectural and technological standards. The facilities will house both the Archive and the Library, with space divided equally between them and further space set aside for other Vatican services. To pay for the work, the pope has ordered the creation of a specific Vatican foundation to secure the long-term finances of these cultural institutions.
