Pope offers ‘baby bonus’ to Vatican employees

ROME – Pope Francis put his money where his mouth is this week when it comes to his constant appeals for couples to procreate, offering a financial incentive to permanent Vatican employees who have more children.

In a Jan. 15 communique from the Governorate of Vatican City State, it was announced that as of Jan. 1, 2025, families who have three or more children will receive a bonus of 300 euros ($308) a month.

“This is what the Pope decided for permanent employees of the Governorate,” the statement said.

The bonus, it said, is granted up until the children turn 18, or until their ordinary course of studies concludes, as long as the couple can provide the necessary documents or certificates of enrollment from secondary schools and universities.

In either case, the bonus will extend up to the age of 24, the communique said, but “no later.”

Pope Francis also expanded parental leave for Vatican employees who either have their own children, who adopt, or those who are fostering children.

Whereas in the past paid parental leave for fathers in these cases was only three days, the pope has extended this leave for fathers to five days in the event of the birth of a child, the adoption of a child, or the entrance of a foster child into the home.

Observers and employees have long complained about the Vatican’s limited paternity leave, and while the extension from three to five days is considered a step in the right direction, there will undoubtedly still be discontent among those who feel the leave should be more generous.

According to the Vatican’s communique, these changes are “a personal initiative of the Holy Father,” and was conveyed to the president of the Governorate, Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, and to the secretary general, Sister Raffaella Petrini, in a Dec. 19 audience.

On that occasion, the pope, the communique said, gave the order to “proceed immediately” in setting the wheels for the change in motion.

For years Italy has had a staggeringly low birth rate that some have declared as a national emergency – it is the oldest country in Europe, with the average age in 2024 being 48, and the birth rate in 2024 sitting somewhere between 1.2 and 1.3.

The Italian government has led various fertility campaigns in a bid to encourage couples to have more children, however, many citizens have complained that troubles in the economy and the lack of affordable resources available to parents in terms of childcare make it difficult to have more children while also maintaining jobs that can support a growing household.

With much of Europe following the same trend, leaders everywhere are increasingly concerned about the steady population decline and potential implications for the future.

This has been such a concern for Pope Francis that in many of major public speeches and in all of his recent travels, he has spoken of problems surrounding birth rates and praised couples with large families, making consistent appeals for couples to have more children.

He applauded the number of young people he saw during his tour of Asia last September, praising East Timor, where those under 18 make up almost half of the population, and calling on countries like Singapore to have more children.

This appeal for couples to grow their families was repeated by the pontiff during his Dec. 15 day trip to Ajaccio, in Corsica, lauding the number of youth present at his final Mass.

In the past, the pope has also made the controversial appeal for Italians to welcome more migrants into their communities to compensate for the lack of children.

Pope Francis in recent months has also ordered pay cuts to cardinals and higher-ups in the Roman Curia in a bid to counteract the Vatican’s financial deficit and its growing pension crisis, however, it appears that he has also decided to use some of the savings to reward employees who choose to have larger families.

While pension obligations to retiring employees and curial officials remains a looming problem the Vatican will have to face sooner or later, for now, the pope seems content to let that be, and to put his money where his mouth is, so to speak, when it comes to urging couples to have more children.

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