2003 MARKS THIRD CONSECUTIVE DEFICIT FOR HOLY SEE

VATICAN CITY, JUL 8, 2004 (VIS) - Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, president of the Prefecture of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, announced this morning in a press conference on the 2003 Consolidated Financial Statement that Holy See closed the year with a deficit of 9.56 million euro, lower than the 2002 deficit of 13.5 million euro. It is the third consecutive year that the Holy See has had a deficit following the period of surpluses up to the year 2000.

  Cardinal Sebastiani said that, starting with the end of the year 2000, the world economy entered into a phase of crisis that reflected the effects of the turbulence provoked by different kinds of events such as the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, the last series of terrorist attacks, the war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

  "Only since the second half of 2003," he said, "was a certain recovery of stock activity evident, but in Europe investments are still lacking and above all demand is weak."

  In terms of the institutional activity of the Holy See (Secretariat of State, Congregations, Councils, Tribunals, the Synod of Bishops and various other offices), the president indicated that this sector closed the year with a deficit of 19.7 million euro, slightly lower than 2002.  "The volume of donations that came to the Holy See in 2003," he said, "showed in its various components a decrease, due also to the increased value of the euro in relation to the U.S. dollar and to other currencies, falling from roughly 85.4 million to 79.6 million."

  The president of the prefecture said that the sector of financial activities (7 consolidated administrations, the most important of which is the Extraordinary Section of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, APSA) had a net deficit of 11.6 million euro. The real estate sector, he continued, closed with a surplus of 22.4 million euro, compared to 19.1 million in 2002.  The activity of the media institutions (Vatican Radio, the Vatican Printing Office, L'Osservatore Romano newspaper, the Vatican Publishing House and Vatican Television), closed with a deficit of 1.2 million euros, compared to a 1.7 million deficit in 2002.
OP/FINANCES HOLY SEE/SEBASTIANI                VIS 20040708 (380)