VATICAN CITY (AP) — The world's smallest country has a big budget problem. The Vatican doesn’t tax its residents or issue bonds. It primarily finances the Catholic Church's central government ...

The Vatican has 4,249 properties in Italy and 1,200 more in London ... questions as the number of church-going Catholics in parts of the U.S. and Europe shrinks and once-full churches stand empty.

Some Vatican officials ask how the Holy See can credibly ask donors to be more generous when its own institutions are holding back. Leo will need to attract donations from outside the U.S., no ...

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. A view of the empty St. Peter’s Square as Pope ...

Pope Francis sends hugs and blessings to the faithful in an empty Vatican due to the COVID-19 outbreak after delivering his weekly prayer online, March 15, 2020 ...

Black smoke as Vatican conclave fails to elect new pope on first ballot. Tens of thousands of people gathered in Vatican City’s St Peter’s Square as cardinals voted in first ballot.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis ... “We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented,” Francis told an empty St. Peter’s Square in March 2020.

The Vatican doesn’t tax its residents or issue bonds, and it's got a very big budget problem. It primarily finances the Catholic Church’s central government through donations that have ...

New donors . The Vatican bank and the city state's governorate, which controls the museums, also make annual contributions to the pope. As recently as a decade ago, the bank gave the pope around ...