How much does a Cardinal in the Catholic Church earn and how much would his pension be?

Answer 1

The salary of a Cardinal in the Catholic Church is not much. There are not statistics on this but all of their needs are met so there is not a need for much of a salary.

Catholic AnswerThe salary of any given Cardinal depends entirely on his job and who pays him. Most Cardinals are Archbishops of individual dioceses. In this case, they do not have a "salary" as such, per se, as everything in the diocese - all Church property, churches, rectories, schools, etc. usually belong to them as a corporate sole. Thus their "income" would be the income for the entire diocese. The Cardinal, himself, would only draw what spending money he would need to meet any personal needs, everything is usually provided for him by the local Church. A Cardinal who works in the Vatican would receive a stipend from the Vatican congregation that he heads or works for. Again, it wouldn't be much, something to provide for his daily needs. But a "Cardinal" is not a position in the Catholic Church, it is just a title of honor among those bishops and archbishops (and in a very few cases, priests) who have been chosen by the pope to elect the next pope after his death.

Answer 2

A cardinal in the Catholic Church is usually a Bishop, but not always. He is a cardinal because he has been appointed by the Holy Father (the Pope) to the College of Cardinals (the group that elects a new Pope when the see is vacent, i.e.: on the death of a pope). Different cardinals have different jobs. For instance, Cardinal Mahoney, who is up for retirement next year, is the Archbishop of Los Angeles and thus he is head of the archdiocese, which provides for his living and expenses. Other cardinals do not have an active diocese and thus receive a salary from wherever they work, either in the Vatican or a school, or wherever it might be. In other words, there is not set pay scale for a cardinal as such, and how much they earn would depend on what their job was.

Answer 3

A:

In medieval and Renaissance times, cardinals were among the richest men in Europe, although there was strong competition among them for the ultimate prize of the papacy. In modern times, most cardinals receive almost all their income from their home diocese, and this will vary according to the wealth of their country and how accepting parishioners are of ecclesiastic wealth.

It must also be remembered that cardinals do not receive most of their income as salary, but in kind. Until relatively recently, cardinals were not even permitted to use public transport, as this was not befitting to the 'dignity' of the position. Even now, cardinals almost invariably fly first class and stay at the most luxurious hotels. As well as living in a grand house in Sydney, Cardinal Pell of Australia purchased a residence in Rome for thirty million dollars, as he may visit that city several times a year. Whatever their income, in cash or kind, Cardinals are far from poor.

Answer 4

There are Cardinals employed by the Vatican and, for the most part they are paid the same as civil service workers in Rome. However, many of the Cardinals are members of religious orders, so the Order gets all of their income, and then takes care of the Cardinals living expenses. The last report that I saw with numbers was from 1987, when inflation as we now have it had not really even begun, and salaries were around $9.000 a year, which is pretty meaningless in the 21st century. If the Vatican City's workers union has kept pace with the Roman workers though, they would be making about the same.

Answer 5

Most Cardinals of the Catholic Church are Bishops of dioceses or religious order priests and Bishops, they do not normally receive any salary, but their expenses are met.

Answer 6

$250,000