Holy Father Calls for Gaza Ceasefire, Peace in Ukraine

Emma Ayers | May 12, 2025

(The Washington Times) — Pope Leo XIV offered his first Sunday blessing in the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, where he called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and peace in Ukraine before addressing the Vatican’s financial woes.

“I, too, address the world’s great powers by repeating the ever-present call ‘never again war,’” Leo told the estimated 100,000 worshippers in the square at the Vatican.

It was Leo’s first return to the loggia since he appeared to the world Thursday evening after his remarkable election as pope, the first from the United States.

The conclave of cardinals met for less than two days before electing Leo as Pope Francis’ successor. Observers said they apparently sought to continue Francis’ legacy while uniting a polarized Catholic Church and financially strapped Holy See.

“I do think they wanted to elect someone with a good managerial hand,” Mathew Schmalz, professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross, told The Washington Times. “Francis wasn’t really attuned to the worldly aspects of managing a large-scale institution. I think that hurt him.”

Pope Leo has stepped into the papacy with an urgent problem: The Vatican faces a $94 million budget deficit and an even deeper hole in its pension fund despite years of cost-cutting and financial reforms under Francis.

“The great challenge that lies before the Vatican is that it’s slowly going broke,” Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy under Francis, said in 2020. “Now that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s slowly happening.”

One of Francis’ final directives before his April 21 death urged Catholics to donate more. He ordered a timeline for a “zero deficit” budget in September and later warned of a “serious prospective imbalance” in the pension system and the need for “difficult decisions.”

Despite its vast art and real estate holdings, the Vatican relies heavily on museum ticket sales to about 7 million visitors annually to fund its global operations, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Holy See collects no taxes, and many of its treasures are listed at a symbolic 1 euro, or about $1.13, in value, which obscures the actual cost of upkeep and insurance.

The Holy See’s top financial officer pegged the pension fund’s shortfall at roughly $690 million in 2022, Reuters news agency reported. Although the Vatican has not released a more recent estimate, insiders say the gap has likely grown.

Francis slashed cardinal salaries, ended housing perks and pushed for a balanced budget, but deeper reform proved elusive, The Journal reported. Internal departments resisted oversight, and auditors were ousted. Computer tampering was also reported.

Libero Milone, a Deloitte accounting executive hired by Francis to perform an external audit, was forced to resign in 2017 after uncovering broad mismanagement.

During the years Mr. Milone worked for the Vatican, his office was burgled. He later said his resignation letter was prewritten.

“There have been bad actors who’ve mismanaged investment funds,” a Catholic source close to the Vatican who requested anonymity told The Times. “And the Vatican Bank hasn’t been well run for years.”

Massive financial scandals mounted. In 2023, Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, once one of Francis’ closest aides, was convicted of embezzlement and fraud concerning a $400 million London property deal.

The archbishop is free pending appeal. Similar cases fester in the Vatican’s financial history.

Francis’ tenure began with hope for reform. He created the Secretariat for the Economy and appointed Cardinal Pell to lead it, but he quickly encountered institutional stonewalling, reports say.

“None of the last three popes had the CEO-type skill set the Vatican really needs,” Mr. Schmalz said. “John Paul II was a charismatic leader, Benedict was an intellectual, and Francis was like a parish priest. None had strong administrative instincts or knew who to delegate financial decisions to.”

In response to Mr. Milone’s arrival, some clergy transferred funds into accounts under a cardinal’s name and hid cash in bags. Mr. Milone was reportedly taken aback to find ancient bookkeeping methods. Nuns were still managing ledgers by hand, in pencil.

Mr. Milone flustered Vatican officials when he requested records on $844 million in Secretariat of State investments, half of which were tied to real estate. The office of Archbishop Becciu denied him access.

The new papacy

Pope Leo is expected to change the norms around the Vatican’s financial mismanagement. The first American pope comes with a rare resume: parish priest, missionary in Peru, bishop, head of a religious order and prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, one of the most powerful offices in the Curia.

“That was the telling quality that made him electable,” Mr. Schmalz said. “He had Vatican experience, but also a rich background with people. And when you run the Dicastery for Bishops, you get to know how the church really works and where cuts can be made.”

Unlike Francis, who centralized power in the Secretariat of State, the Chicago-born pontiff is more likely to delegate, according to Catholic outlets such as The Pillar and Crux.

“From what I hear, he’s a levelheaded guy who can make hard choices,” Mr. Schmalz said.

Vatican observers say they expect the new pope to revive stalled financial reforms, including mandatory compliance with audits, mergers of redundant offices and possible cuts to the Vatican workforce. The church’s finance watchers say Leo may also push for more professional lay involvement, including financial experts with corporate experience.

Money troubles won’t stay in Rome. Cardinal Michael Czerny, who oversaw humanitarian outreach under Francis, warned that budget constraints could derail the church’s global mission.

“Those of us who live and work here are obviously all too aware,” Cardinal Czerny told The Wall Street Journal. Cardinals entering the conclave received a “thorough report” on the Vatican’s finances.

“I am concerned because of the effects on our mission, our staff, our programs,” he added.

Other church leaders say the financial matter doesn’t deserve the sudden attention.

“Jesus sent the apostles and later the bishops into the world to preach the Gospel of salvation, redemption, hope to everybody. This remains the main issue for the church,” Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller told The Journal. He said questions about the financial state of the Vatican are “not so important for the essence.”

Still, Mr. Schmalz told The Times, the church has found itself a leader with programmatic savvy and the ability to work quietly in solving institutional problems.

“Pope Leo’s not flashy, but he knows how the machine works. And right now, that may be exactly what the church needs,” he said.