Salary cuts for cardinals, clerics to save their jobs: Pope Francis

To save the jobs of employees, Pope Francis on Wednesday has ordered to take a 10% pay cut and reduced the salary of other clerics working in the Vatican.

Pope goes with this option due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Vatican said on Wednesday that Francis issued a decree introducing proportional cuts starting on April 1.

A spokesman said most lay employees would not be affected by the cuts.

A senior Vatican prelate said it was believed to be the first time in living memory that a pope had taken such action.

Francis, 84, who belongs to a working-class family, has often insisted he does not want to fire people in difficult economic times, even as the Vatican continues to run up deficits.

Cardinals who work at the Vatican and live there or in Rome are believed to get salaries of about 4,000 to 5,000 Euros ($4,730 to $5,915) a month and many live in large apartments at well below market rents.

Most priests and nuns who work in Vatican departments live in religious communities in Rome, such as seminaries, convents, parishes, universities and schools – giving them greater protection from economic downturns.