ROME – Pope Francis challenged the Vatican’s in-house journalists Monday to essentially justify their continued work, asking them how many people actually consume their news in a critique of the office that costs the Holy See more than all its embassies around the world combined.
Francis visited the Dicastry of Communications, Vatican Radio and the headquarters of the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, which is marking its 160th anniversary.
He appeared to use the occasion to lay down the gauntlet at a fraught financial time for the Holy See. Facing a major pension funding shortage and a projected 50 million euro ($61 million) deficit this year, Francis has ordered salary cuts from 3% to 10% for Vatican employees, both lay and