Vatican Raises

The Vatican was abuzz last week with a temporal topic--raises. Bowing to the high cost of living, the Administration of Property of the Holy See planned to increase the salaries of the 3,000 clerical and lay members of the Vatican household. Raises will be voted to all, from caretakers to the 18 Cardinals who hold Vatican administrative posts, for which they receive an annual salary of $860.

The Cardinals do not have to live on this pittance. They are also provided with apartments and food, receive varying sums from prelatical endowments.

The Pope will receive no raise, since he gets no salary. Most of his income is derived from Peter's Pence, the penny poll tax collected annually in every Roman Catholic Church in the world. The Pope may use the proceeds of Peter's Pence as he wishes. Most of it goes for Vatican expenses, Papal charities. The Pope publishes no Peter's Pence figures, but in prewar times it was rumored to run between $2,000,000 and $5,000,000 annually. Because of the war, most of the Pope's income in the past five years has come from North and South America.

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