Pope Leo reverses salary cuts for working Cardinals, current amount mentioned

• Pope Leo signed a decree on September 14 reversing salary cuts that Pope Francis introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic
• Cardinals working in the Roman Curia earn between €4,500 and €5,000 a month after the pay restoration took effect
• The Pope also cancelled a Francis-era plan to move Vatican archives outside the city state on the same day

Pope Leo has restored the salaries of cardinals and senior Vatican officials to the levels they received before the Covid-19 pandemic, undoing pay reductions that his predecessor, Pope Francis, had introduced to ease the Church's financial strain.

Francis had cut cardinal salaries by 10 per cent and those of other senior Holy See officials by 8 per cent in 2021, as the Vatican struggled with both the financial pressures of the pandemic and longstanding budget deficits.

On September 14, which was also his 71st birthday, Pope Leo signed a papal decree making the reversal official. The restoration was dated back to September 1, though the decree clarified it would not apply retroactively beyond that date.

Why the pay cuts were lifted

In the decree, Pope Leo said the reductions had been "necessary to face the exceptional challenge of the pandemic" but that conditions had since changed enough to justify lifting them. He added that Vatican institutions would continue working to maintain their "economic sustainability" going forward.

Cardinals employed within the Roman Curia, the Catholic Church's central administrative body, are estimated to earn between €4,500 and €5,000 a month following the restoration.

The move comes as the Vatican's finances show signs of recovery. The Vatican bank's annual report, published in May, recorded a net profit of €51 million, suggesting the Holy See's fiscal position has stabilised since the pandemic years.

Pope Leo also cancels Vatican archives plan

In a second decree released on the same day, Pope Leo cancelled a separate initiative by Francis that had proposed moving parts of the Vatican's archives to a location outside the city state. Instead, the decree said a new building would be constructed within the Vatican to house the archives.

The twin decrees mark one of the more significant administrative departures from the Francis era since Pope Leo assumed leadership of the Catholic Church.