The Vatican said yesterday it had recorded its biggest budget surplus in 1997, due to the strength of non-lira currencies in its holdings.

The Vatican said its consolidated 1997 budget included expenses of about 338 billion lire (£136 million) and income of some L357 billion, leaving a surplus of some L19 billion.

Monsignor Francesco Saverio Salerno said it was the Holy See's biggest surplus since the Vatican started releasing information about the Holy See's budgets in the early 1980s.

Monsignor Salerno, secretary of the Prefecture of Economic Affairs of the Holy See, said the surplus was due mostly to the increase in the lira conversion value of the Vatican's holdings in foreign currencies, which rose steadily during 1997.