The city’s overstretched infrastructure faces its toughest test with an expected influx of Catholic pilgrims
Italian television presenter Giulia Avataneo was elated last year when she found a small, affordable apartment in Rome just 10 minutes from her workplace in a neighbourhood near the Vatican. But less than a year after she moved in, the landlord wanted her out again. His aim: to convert the flat into a short-term holiday rental for pilgrims coming to Rome for the Catholic Jubilee — a holy year of forgiveness.
Despite Pope Francis’s persistent cost-cutting, the Holy See has been running a yawning budget deficit. The Vatican pension fund is also in crisis. However, the influx of pilgrims — and the licensing of the jubilee logo for merchandise ranging from wooden wall maps of Rome to “papal” olive oil — will generate new revenues. “Right now, the Vatican is running out of money,” said Faggioli. “They need this lifeline like never before.” Rome’s secular authorities are racing to ready the city.
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