Concerning the Vatican Pension Fund

Today the Board of Directors and the College of Auditors who have been examining the Vatican Pension Fund released the following statement:

For several months now, media reports have been circulating alarming reports about the situation of the Vatican Pension Fund and its sustainability, given its commitments to present and future members.  The Fund's Board of Directors and the College of Account Auditors, in its meeting held on February 19 of this year, took the opportunity to officially perform an actuarial study of the assets and the income generated by the Fund as indicated by the Financial Technical actuarial certification drawn up by the actuary and the Fund's financial statements which have duly been approved by the Secretariat of State.

Concerning the actuarial aspect, we note the substantial balance between available resources and loans to current and future retirees, thanks to interventions (approved by the Secretary of State at the behest of the Board of Directors) both concerning contributions (the rates of which have been increased over the years to the current rate of 26% of taxable wages) and performance (the prolongation of the working years to the age of 67 years for lay persons and 72 years for clergy and religious).

The financial statements for the year show that over the course of years, the financial structure of the Fund has been solid.  The coverage ratio of the Fund (the funding ratio) is 95%.

Based strictly on income, the economic and financial situation of the institution records a progressive increase of financial resources and real estate, together with the resources which, from 1993 to 2013 have increased by 22,256,196 per year, continuing an upward trend through the years, which in the last six years has increased from 23,583,882 to 26,866,657, an amount sufficient to cover the actual cost of the existing pensions.

To complete the picture, it should be noted that the Fund's assets at December 31, 2014 are 477,668.000.  Adding the preventative management advance foreseen for 2015 in the amount of 27,140,000, it is conceivable that on December 31, 2015, the Fund will have a net worth of more than 504 million euro, confirming the real strength of the Fund, which has grown from an initial allocation of 10 billion old Italian lire in 1993 to more than 500 million euro in little more than twenty years.