One of the most unpopular administrative measures of the previous pontificate is set to be formally reversed, with Pope Leo XIV restoring free or subsidised Vatican housing for cardinals and senior curial officials. The decision, reported by Vatican correspondent Nico Spuntoni, marks an early and significant shift in internal governance under the new Pope.
According to Spuntoni, a decree coming into force imminently will repeal the rescript issued on 13 February 2023 under Pope Francis, which removed long-standing housing privileges for cardinals, prefects, presidents and secretaries of dicasteries living in Vatican-owned property. The earlier measure required many prelates either to begin paying rent for the first time or to absorb steep increases.
Under the new provisions, senior officials in active service will once again enjoy the use of Vatican accommodation free of charge or at reduced rates, restoring a system that had been in place for decades. Vatican sources cited by Spuntoni say the reversal is intended to ease the practical pressures faced by cardinals living on fixed stipends and to stabilise curial life after a period of disruption.
The decision comes as Leo XIV also finalises arrangements for his own long-term residence. Work is continuing at the Apostolic Palace, where the Pope is expected to move next month. The transfer, originally scheduled for January, has been postponed until February to allow further preparations.
Confirming the delay, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Pope “intends to use the spaces available to his predecessors as a residence, for himself and his closest collaborators”. He added that the areas being prepared include rooms above the Third Loggia, including the attic level that once housed the apartments of papal secretaries.
When the move takes place, it will be the third residence used by Leo XIV since his arrival in Rome. Since his election, he has continued to live in an apartment within the Palace of the Holy Office, which he had occupied previously as a cardinal. The apartment, measuring around 250 square metres, is located above the offices of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and offers views towards both the dome of St Peter’s Basilica and Via di Porta Cavalleggeri.
The Pope moved into the Holy Office residence following a modest renovation earlier this year. The apartment had been vacant since the death of its long-time occupant, Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes. Before that, the future pontiff lived for nearly two years in a private apartment on Via di Porta Angelica, outside the Vatican’s extraterritorial zone, during his service in the Roman Curia.
According to Spuntoni, it is now occupied by members of one of Italy’s most prominent film families. The tenant is Antonio Avati, brother of the director Pupi Avati, who said the family only discovered the apartment’s former occupant by chance after finding receipts made out in the Pope’s name. He described the revelation as a source of consolation during a difficult period for the family.
While no official explanation has been offered beyond administrative necessity, the restoration of curial accommodation benefits has been widely welcomed by cardinals who have spoken to the Catholic Herald, with one noting that “it brings practicality”.
Spuntoni told the Catholic Herald: “This rescript was very unpopular in the Vatican, not only because of the denial of the concession itself, but also because of the exceptions to its application that could be authorised directly by the Pope. The consequence was that there were prefects who took office after March 2023 who were forced to pay full rent, while others were granted free use thanks to the authorisation granted by Francis.”
The original 2023 rescript was widely perceived as functioning less as neutral administrative reform than as a form of ecclesiastical discipline and political leverage. The treatment of cardinals in Rome who, having given their lives to ecclesial service, depend upon the Holy See for their basic livelihood made the policy deeply unpopular across the College.
Under Pope Francis, access to Vatican apartments and stipends increasingly became entangled with questions of loyalty and unity. What had once been taken for granted as a practical necessity for senior clergy serving in Rome became a conditional privilege, subject to revocation.
The February 2023 rescript withdrawing free or subsidised accommodation from cardinals and senior curial officials was formally justified as a financial reform. Cardinals resident in Rome typically receive a stipend of around $4,500 a month, a modest sum in a city with some of Europe’s highest living costs. For many elderly prelates without private means, the sudden imposition of market-rate rents made continued residence in Rome precarious, if not impossible.
The most prominent case was Cardinal Raymond Burke, who in December 2023 was informed by letter from the Apostolic See that he would be required either to pay market rent for his Vatican apartment or vacate it within two months. The letter was dated days after a reported meeting in which Pope Francis announced measures against Burke to dicastery heads, citing concerns about disunity.
Contemporaneous reporting reflected competing interpretations. Italian outlets suggested punitive intent, even quoting sources who claimed the Pope had described Burke as an “enemy”. Other commentators, including papal biographer Austen Ivereigh, relayed Francis’s insistence that the decision concerned misuse of privileges rather than personal hostility. What was beyond dispute was that Burke appeared to be the first cardinal publicly known to face the full force of the new policy.
Leo XIV’s decision to reverse the policy therefore carries political as well as administrative significance. While the Holy See has offered little public commentary on the motivations behind the change, the effect is to ensure that Vatican accommodation will no longer function as a disciplinary tool. The move suggests a restraint in the exercise of internal pressure, restoring a presumption that cardinals serving the Church should not fear material reprisal for theological divergence.
The development also raises unavoidable questions about Vatican finances. The 2023 rescript was defended as a necessary contribution to fiscal reform. If rents are now rescinded, the financial pressures that prompted the policy do not disappear. The burden must be absorbed elsewhere, either through renewed fundraising, asset restructuring or further reform of Vatican economic governance.
While some commentators have suggested that the reversal is a sign that Leo XIV wishes to “turn the page” on the previous pontificate, the Pope has not presented the move as a theological correction. Rather, it appears to signal a shift away from a model in which symbolic gestures and internal pressure shaped curial governance. In doing so, Leo XIV appears to be indicating that unity is better preserved through stability than through coercion.
