Pope Francis tells Catholic cardinals that he wants a plan with “zero deficit”

Pope Francis asked the world’s Catholic cardinals—many of whom live in Rome and run offices for the Vatican—to work toward a “zero deficit” goal to make better use of the Vatican’s money.

However, in a letter released by the Vatican on Friday, the pope didn’t give many details. He did say that the budget plan would need “a further effort” from the 236 cardinals, who are the top leaders of the 1.4 billion-member Roman Catholic Church.

Francis has been pope since March 2013. He has tried to make the Vatican’s finances better, but there have also been a lot of scandals. For example, the Vatican lost about 140 million euros ($156 million) on an investment in a London building.

A person who helped pay for the deal sued the Vatican in London’s High Court this summer, saying that they hurt his image. The decision should come out later this year.

The letter that Francis wrote to his “venerable brothers” and signed on September 16 did not say if the pope was thinking about specific budget cuts.

The pope said that he wanted to see “the implementation of moral policies that allow for improving the economic performance of existing assets.”

“On the cost reduction side, we need to give a concrete example so that our service is carried out with a spirit of essentiality, avoiding the superfluous and selecting our priorities well,” he said.

The Catholic Church’s main office is made up of two parts: the Holy See, which is a sovereign body recognized around the world, and Vatican City, a 108-acre city-state surrounded by Rome.

They each have their own budgets, and money from Vatican City, like the famous Vatican Museums, has been used to make up for budget gaps in the Holy See.

In July, Vatican City’s central bank said that it had a balance of €45.9 million ($51 million) in cash and real estate for the year 2023.

€1 is equal to $1