Will the ex-Pope’s pension match his final salary?
(Getty Images)
It did not take a wag at the Reed recruitment agency long to post an advertisement on their website for a “permanent, full time” job vacancy in Rome, the description of which began: “This is an outstanding opportunity to join a global organisation, started over 2000 years ago by the entrepreneurial son of a carpenter.
Our client is the market-leader in its field, with over a billion members. Due to an unexpected change in circumstances we are seeking applications from senior cardinals, patriarchs and diocesan bishops to take on this challenging remit.”
It was a misleading advertisement, though, because it claimed that the post carries a salary in 500,000-1,000,000 euros per annum range, which cuts across the categorical statement made 12 years ago by the Vatican’s spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls – that “the Pope does not and has never received a salary.”
Moreover, there having been no precedent for centuries for a papal resignation, there are presumably no pension arrangements for an ex-Pope, which makes His Holiness a rare example of someone whose pension is the same as his final salary.
Most viewed
|
|
Latest from Independent journalists on Twitter