Pope Leo XIV on Vatican’s finances: ‘I’m not losing sleep over it’

CNA Staff, Sep 18, 2025 / 07:00 am

Pope Leo XIV downplayed concerns of the ongoing financial crisis at the Vatican in a recent interview, arguing that “things are going to be OK” regarding the Holy See’s finances even as more work is needed. 

The Holy Father made the remarks as part of a wide-ranging interview with Crux senior correspondent Elise Ann Allen. The interview appears in Allen’s biography on the pontiff, “Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the 21st Century,” published in Spanish on Sept. 18. An English version of the book will be published in early 2026. 

Allen asked Leo about the financial situation of the Vatican, noting that the pope has previously indicated that the crisis is “not as bad as it’s sometimes been made out to be.” The Holy See’s pension fund has been facing a major shortfall after years of budget deficits. 

Admitting that the Vatican has to “continue to work” to address the issue, Leo told Allen: “I’m not losing sleep over it.” 

The Holy Father noted that the pandemic helped drive serious shortfalls in the Vatican’s budget when the worldwide health crisis closed the Vatican Museums, a major source of the Holy See’s revenue.

But travel has increased in recent years, he said. “There are more tourists in Rome this year. There are things going on that have made a significant turnaround in some of the issues that have been causes of concern in the past.”

The pope suggested that the various departments and initiatives at the Vatican need to cooperate to ensure the flow of financial resources there.

“Everything that I might have in this pocket doesn’t always get over to that pocket, and we have to learn to work together in a positive way also within the Holy See, within the Vatican,” he told Allen.

Part of the problem, he argued, is that the Vatican has “oftentimes given the wrong message” about the Holy See’s fiduciary state.

Bad messaging, he said, “doesn’t inspire people” to support the Vatican financially; rather, the pope argued, it leads them to conclude: “‘I’ll keep my money, because if you’re not going to administer properly, why should I give you more money?’”

Leo said that after studying the issue at length — including before he became pope — he is convinced that “things are going to be OK,” though he said improvements to the Vatican’s financial policies will continue. 

“[W]e do have to continue the process of reform that Francis began,” he said.