Pope Leo's looming challenge as Catholic Church eyes jaw-dropping debt

Daily Mirror

09-05-2025

Pope Leo will be tasked with tackling the Vatican's estimated £70 million debt while hoping to navigate an increasingly diverse Catholic Church that continues to swell in numbers
Pope Leo XIV faces a "difficult challenge" ahead as he seeks to chart a course in his first 100 days ahead while keeping Catholics happy.
The American-born pontiff was named yesterday as the Vatican wrestles with its identity in the 21st century, while facing a looming economic black hole. Cardinals turned to Robert Prevost to be their man to navigate the Vatican's eye-watering £70million debt while steering the papacy toward a more moderate path following Pope Francis' polarising 12-year tenure.
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As with any new pontiff, Pope Leo will be keen to signal to his fellow Catholics what his leadership will mean for them and the church in the first 100 days and years ahead.
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Dr Miles Pattenden, programme director at the Europaeum - a network of leading universities - told The Mirror one of the most important signals made by the new Pope was the choosing of his name, Leo.
The last Pope Leo XIII was known for being dedicated to social justice and workers' rights while redefining the papacy's role into one that stripped back its political influence in Italy.
"He sort of allows the church, he allows the cardinals to avoid having to choose between the two directions that they might otherwise have gone," Dr Pattenden tells us. "He has experience as an administrator, something that was, perhaps, a little bit lacking with Pope Francis, who had been considered a bit chaotic. He will be seen as a steadier hand."
But the coming days and weeks will define Leo's papacy, with the new Pope needing to settle on how to handle two major upcoming moments in the early stages of his tenure.
Dr Pattenden continued: "The first things we'll be looking out for is who does he appoint to to the Vatican's jobs. It's kind of like a US administration in the sense that when the pope dies everyone loses their job at the Vatican and the new pope needs to reconfirm them or replace them.
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"The other one to look out for is where he decides to travel to first. Pope Francis first went to the small island of Lampedusa (a major destination for migrants entering Europe) in the south of Italy, and that really set out his stall. Let's see what Pope Leo does, if he goes back to the United States, that tells us something quite significant I think, or if he goes back to Peru."
But the expert did concede it might be "a little while" before Pope Leo's vision for the Catholic Church becomes more clear. His less outspoken stance earned plaudits within the College of Cardinals, who looked to a safe pair of administrative hands to tackle the Vatican's piling debt.
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"They wanted someone who could get the Vatican back in order, remember it currently runs an €80million deficit, and it has a €600million hole in its pension fund amongst a lot of other things," Dr Pattenden added. "So, there is a lot that needs sorting out."
The new pope will also need to navigate a growing but also more diverse Catholic Church that is pulling in both more conservative and liberal directions. Dr Pattenden told The Mirror: "He's got a difficult challenge keeping together different groups, which are typically different in their interests. The church is growing in Africa and Asia as well as growing among a certain kind of conservative constituency in Europe and North America.
"The conservatives in Europe and North America are attracted by the traditional rituals, which is the exact opposite of the kind of charismatic, folksy approach that we see in Asia. How he balances those different conditions that the church should celebrate is one problem as is the social teaching.
"There are plenty of Catholics who want to see a very traditional teaching but there are also plenty of Catholics who are more in line with the norms of Western society," he added.