July 5, 2012. (Romereports.com) Today the Vatican presented two financial reports, one for the governing body of the Catholic Church and the other for the State of Vatican City.

The Vatican spokesperson had some good and bad news to deliver.

FR. FEDERICO LOMBARDI
Vatican spokesman
“The balance of the Holy See for the year 2011 closed with a deficit of about 15 million euros. The largest items of cost are related to staff payments.”

The balance of the Holy See includes the costs of the Roman Curia, the nunciatures, and the media communications branch of the Vatican.

The good news is that the accounts of the world's smallest state can survive the setback. It closed in 2011 with a surplus of 26 million dollars, thanks largely to money brought in by the Vatican Museums.

The report also showed that donations were up by 7.6 percent. The donations to St. Peter's alone raised 84 million dollars. As well as the different dioceses throughout the world sending 31 million, and religious institutes just over a million dollars.

The Institute for Works of Religion, better known as the Vatican's bank, gave the Pope 60 million dollars for his charitable works in the past year.

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