From January 1, if all goes as planned, the Vatican will entrust the management of Annona to a large-scale Italian retail company. This is a huge change (and not just symbolic) and represents another step for the small papal state on the path of reform carried out under Francis’ papacy. In practice, the “legendary” in-house store – located shortly after the Vatican post office, the printing house and the pharmacy, and where you can buy wine and alcoholic drinks exempt from VAT – will no longer be managed directly as it has been previously. up to now and with staff taken over by the Prefecture. But it will be entrusted, under a regular contract, to a well-known supermarket chain.

The choice will be made soon and based on the best economic offer. The clatter of the choir suggests that Pewex, the Roman chain of the Cetorelli brothers, could win the tender. Even if nothing has been decided at the moment: some issues are on the table to be resolved and they are not indifferent. For example, the maximum products that can be purchased exempt from VAT must be defined and the 29 employees working at Annona whose salaries paid in a foreign country and without contributions are higher (about 40%). The Italian ones.

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money

In the fall, we will know who will take over the reins of the Popes' supermarket, which has been active for more than a century. At the root of this strategic change is the Pope’s concern for the future sustainability of the financial system across the Tiber. The fact that the Vatican has been in trouble for some time is nothing new: revenues are falling year after year due to various factors and various contributing factors. These are lean times. Suffice it to say that even for the coffers of one of the richest and most generous dioceses in the world – the Archdiocese of Munich – huge losses are expected this year. In fact, it will have to make do with less money.

Faced with these moonlights, Bergoglio agreed to follow the path of a five-year administration, renewable for another five years, to be entrusted to an outsider. For the moment we are only talking about the Annona, although the possibility of studying a similar administration outside the Vatican in the near future could extend to the real estate sector and the Vatican pension fund.

Behind this, the Latin word “annona” – which in ancient Rome meant the harvest of the year – is the activity of trading in foodstuffs. It was organized in the 1930s with the aim of distributing and selling foodstuffs and products from the papal villas to those working in the Curia, religious orders, communities, monasteries, accredited embassies and Curial staff.

Under Paul VI it became a modern supermarket where you could buy a little bit of everything, from crockery to vintage champagne to zero-kilometer products. At the cash desks, where you now pay with credit cards, there are machines that check banknotes directly connected to the IOR, the Vatican Bank, located about a hundred meters away.

employees

Six years ago, the case of the dismissal of about thirty workers from the company that supplied the Vatican with meat at the time erupted. The problem arose because the company “Roma Carni 2000 srl” had not had its contract renewed when the concession to sell meat to Annona expired. This company had been chosen by another company by the Prefecture because it was more competitive. This time this scenario should not be repeated, although there is the issue of the important salaries in the Vatican, which are much higher than those in Italy. In the transfer contract drawn up and presented to the winners of the tender, they are in fact asked to protect the careers of the current employees for five years.

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