Vatican reports it's nearly $19 million in the red

If you were seeking confirmation that the current economic crisis really is evil, look no further than the Holy See.

The Vatican reported on Thursday that its tiny state wasn't spared by the global economic downfall. With its budget deficit hitting $19 million, 2011 was one of the Holy See's worst financial years on record.

With lines for entering Vatican museums and Saint Peter's Basilica consistently as long as the Vatican wall, last year alone tickets for attractions like the Sistine Chapel filled the Vatican's coffers with more than $90 million.

If to that you add the almost $70 million the pope received in charitable donations, it's difficult to believe that the smallest state in the world, with its 0.2-square-miles territory, could ever go in the red.

The sheer cost of employing almost 3,000 people to run the Vatican, its radio and newspaper services, plus the especially bad real estate market affecting some of Italy's most prestigious palazzos owned by the Vatican, mean it spent more, much more, than it earned.

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