The workers believe that the recent repeal of the restrictions does not resolve the cumulative effects of the suspension of biennial seniority increments.
The association, which claims to represent about 850 workers out of approximately 5,000 Vatican employees, made the request after Leo XIV repealed the motu proprio A Sustainable Future, promulgated by Francis in 2021.
The new pontifical provision, published on September 14 and effective from the 1st of the same month, ended the salary containment measures adopted during the pandemic. However, the document expressly states that the effects produced while they were in force remain definitively consolidated, including the suspension of biennial seniority increments.
Compensation for lost increments
The ADLV maintains that this point precisely leaves one of the workers’ main demands unresolved. The repeal does not allow for the retroactive recovery of the increments that ceased to accumulate during these years, nor does it provide for specific compensation.
The association has therefore raised the possibility of establishing an extraordinary payment or some compensatory measure if it is not possible to fully restore the amounts not received. It also proposes studying the elimination of the effects that the freeze has had on future pensions and end-of-service indemnities.
According to the employees’ representatives, the accumulated harm could reach several thousand euros per worker in some cases.
The association also recalls that Vatican salaries have remained substantially unchanged since 2008, so the biennial increments, together with the extraordinary payment and overtime, constituted one of the few avenues for remuneration growth.
The economic issue had already appeared among the main concerns expressed by the workers.
At the beginning of this year, a survey promoted by the ADLV itself reflected discontent with working conditions, personnel management, and the suspension of salary increments.
Workers demand participation in decisions
The association also used its statement to call for greater dialogue with Vatican authorities. Employees regret not having been consulted before the approval of provisions that directly affect their working conditions, a situation that, they note, already occurred when Francis adopted austerity measures in 2021.
The ADLV acknowledges that the current legal framework does not establish formal mechanisms for worker participation in the drafting of these decisions, but recalls that it has repeatedly expressed its willingness to collaborate with the institutions of the Holy See.
The 2021 motu proprio had established a 10% reduction in the remuneration of cardinals and 8% for certain senior positions, as well as a 3% reduction for some categories of priests and religious. It also temporarily suspended biennial seniority increments for part of the staff.
Leo XIV definitively repealed that regime on September 14, considering that the exceptional circumstances that justified the measures during the pandemic had been overcome. The Pope nevertheless maintained the economic effects already produced during the years the norm was in force.
The ADLV now asks that, once that stage has been overcome, a new phase of dialogue with the workers be opened and some formula be studied to recognize the economic sacrifices made during those years.