A €13.8 million dividend for the mission of Pope Leo XIV is on its way from the IOR, the Institute for Works of Religion, or the Vatican bank, which closed 2024 with a profit up 7 percent to €32.8 million, boosted by growth in net interest income and commissions. The institution, which is the only institution authorized to provide financial services in the Vatican City State, will provide Pope Leo XIV, “consistent with the Institute's mission to support works of religion and charity”, with a check slightly higher than the €13.6 million turned over to Pope Francis in 2024 for the results of the 2023 budget. The accounts were released Wednesday, January 11. “What you can see from these years' budgets is the continuous, gradual progression in results, without traumatic jolts upward or downward,” IOR Director General Gian Franco Mammì tells MF-Milano Finanza. “It is a sign of great reliability, attention to the prudence with which client money is managed and respect for ethicality in the social doctrine of the Church”. The lower dividend than a decade ago reflects precisely the greater prudence in management. “We have shown that you can beat benchmarks with purely ethical investments,” Mammì claims. IOR last year recorded €5.7 billion in total deposits (deposits, current accounts, asset management and securities in custody), up from €5.4 billion in 2023. The growth raises to €731.9 million (+€64.3 million over 2023) for net assets.
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