Pope Francis, with input from the Vatican's central accounting office, also determined that volunteers could be used to help provide the labour needed to make up for the hiring freeze and eventual attrition.

The majority of the Holy See's annual expenditures are related to wages and other personnel costs for about 2800 people.

Its revenues come from contributions from dioceses and religious orders, returns from the Holy See's financial investments and profits from the Vatican Bank's investments.

There is a separate budget for Vatican City State, which employs nearly 1900 people, and receives substantial revenues and profits from the Vatican Museums and Vatican post office.

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