Pope Francis Gives Vatican Bonuses To Charity Instead Of Staff

If your boss gave your bonus to charity on your behalf, you’d be upset, right? You’d probably be justified, too. Unless you work for the Vatican.

Vatican officials confirmed Thursday that frugal Pope Francis decided to give some extra money in the coffers to charity instead of granting papal employees a bonus as is customary when a new pope is elected.

“On account of the difficult situation of the general economy, it seemed neither possible nor opportune to burden Vatican institutions with a considerable unforeseen extraordinary expense,” said the Vatican’s chief spokesman in an email.

Instead of giving employees a bonus, Francis ordered officials to make a donation to some “charitable organizations.”

What’s more, the money will come out of the pope’s personal charity budget as a “sign of the church’s attention for the many people who are suffering” from global economic woes.

After Pope John Paul II died in 2005, roughly 4,000 Vatican employees were given roughly $1,300 each. After Pope Benedict XVI was elected, they were granted an additional $650. I’m fuzzy on math, but that’s like millions in bonus money going to charity now.

In any case, Francis seems to be living up to his promise of a “poor church, for the poor” eschewing papal pomp for humble simplicity. He’s not one of those “do as I say, not as I do” religious leaders, either. He’s leading the charge for a poorer church, living in a simple apartment instead of the luxury papal apartments, and doing other nutty things like checking out of his own hotel rooms.

We should also note that the Vatican is facing some pretty serious financial problems these past few years. In 2011, the Holy See’s budget was $19 million in deficit, while the Vatican City State (which has a separate budget) had a $27 million surplus.

However, the decision to donate Vatican bonuses to charity was explicitly stated to have nothing to do with their financial woes.

What do you think? Should Pope Francis award his employees bonuses, or should they accept a “poor church, for the poor?”