Vatican Pay Raise

The big news of the week in Vatican City was a raise. Pope John XXIII is giving pay hikes to about 5,000 lay and clerical employees of the Holy See.

Curia cardinals will probably be raised $100 from their present $800 a month; archbishops and bishops from $240-$275 to $265-$335. Pay of manual workers--the blue-overalled sanpietrini--will go from about $82 to about $112, with family allowances sharply up from $8 for a wife and $8 for each child to $16 for a wife and $19.70 per child.

With the low rents in Vatican apartments and the rock-bottom prices at Vatican City stores, this will give the Vatican citizen a considerable advantage over his Italian peer. A Grade 10 clerk in any Italian ministry, for instance, earns about $104 a month, minus about $11.20 deducted for taxes and social security. His Vatican opposite number will presumably get $147.20 a month without deductions, will pay 20% to 50% less for food and clothes.

The Pope is also planning to change Vatican working hours from the traditional 8 a.m.-to-2 p.m. schedule, to answer the complaints of many foreign prelates, diplomats and newsmen, who have long protested that it is almost impossible to get the ponderous, antique machinery of the Vatican to grind after lunch. Together, the wage boost and hour stretchout will probably cut down on the Vatican tradition of "moonlighting," i.e., taking on extra spare-time jobs.

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