Critics say Pope’s new law is a setback for Vatican workers’ rights

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ROME In a little-noticed aspect of a new Basic Law for the Vatican City State issued by Pope Francis on May 13, a provision allowing employees to raise labor disputes with the Labor Office of the Apostolic See was been removed.

While the main headline of the new law was that Francis allowed lay people to sit on the city-state’s governing commission, critics suggest that the disappearance of a dispute resolution process suggests that the rights of lay people therein actually work could be compromised.

The Office of Labor of the Apostolic See was established by Pope John Paul II in 1989, and in his own 2000 Basic Law for the Vatican City State, the Polish Pope entrusted it with the responsibility of resolving disputes between employees and management.

At the time, John Paul II wrote that the role of the labor office was to ensure that the dignity of each employee is effectively honored in the working community, under the authority of the pope. [and] that the economic and social rights of each employee are recognised, protected, harmonized and promoted.

The conflict mediation function was confirmed by Pope Benedict XVI in a 2009 motu proprio decreeing a new statute for the labor office.

The provision, however, disappeared in the new Basic Law, which comes into force on June 7. Nor is there any reference to the new Human Resources Directorate of the Holy See created by Francis last September and located within the Secretariat for the Economy.

By deduction, it would not seem that the only recourse of the employees of the City State wishing to file a complaint against the management is the civil court of the Vatican. As the Italian Catholic blog Silere Non Possum noted in a May 15 post, this tribunal has no special jurisdiction over labor law or labor disputes.

Silere Non Possum is known for a somewhat traditional editorial line that is often hostile to Francis’ more progressive agenda.

Francis’ new constitution for the Roman Curia, Praedicate evangelium, published in March 2022, makes reference to the labor office.

For questions concerning the work situation of the personnel of the Roman Curia and matters relating thereto, the Labor Office of the Apostolic See is responsible, according to its own competence, for the protection and promotion of the rights of employees in the basis of the principles of the social doctrine of the Church, we read in article 11.

In effect, the result is that the Labor Office of the Apostolic See will deal only with the Roman Curia, that is, with the government of the universal Church, and not with the Vatican City State. , that is, of the administration of the physical territory of the popes.

Although some observers believed that the new Human Resources Directorate of the Holy See could also play a role in labor/management disputes, similar to the role played by human resources offices in other governments and in business, but to date, such a function has not materialized.

Some 2,500 people work for the Vatican City State, with the Vatican Museums being one of the largest individual employers with a payroll of around 700, mostly lay people. The Roman curia had a roughly similar number of employees, bringing the pope’s total staff to about 4,700.

Although Pope Francis has been a strong advocate for trade unions and workers’ rights, critics such as Silere Non Possum say these great principles are not always applied to the pontiffs’ own workforce.

Francis wants laity in the Vatican, but he is making two mistakes, the blog claims.

First, he thinks he can treat the laity despotically, as he treats us priests, he said. Second, he favors lay people in leadership positions (who earn huge salaries) but in reality does not care about the rights of ordinary workers, who are for him second-class citizens.

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