Priests celebrate SEVENTY PERCENT pay rise
September 3516
by Orbán Olasz
Cardinal Vladan Martinek's government has capitulated to clergy demands for a pay rise. He offered them 70% in the end, more than most people expected, although still less than the 105% they were demanding. He also proposed splurging millions of Deltarian Telars on religious artworks, a move guaranteed to cement his support in the religious establishment.
To the horror of many, Martinek revealed that in future the state and not the Church will have to pay the salaries of clerics in the Terran Patriarchal Church. Fiscal experts are wondering how this will be funded. Brother Branko Jespersen, the Finance Minister, insists that "all of this has been budgeted for within our existing plans". Rumours persist, however, that the government intends to pay for both the clergy salaries and the religious arts projects by dipping in to the 10 billion Zards provided by Zardugal, which was meant to be used for alleviating poverty amongst the rural poor.
Father Werdheri Chvátal (pictured above), who led the strike for higher clergy pay, has seen his political profile rise as a result of this episode, which his supporters are already calling a "great victory". It is being speculated that the Hosiany Národná Strana (Hosian National Party) hopes to co-opt him by making him a candidate at the next election.
One organisation which may have lost an opportunity following the priests' pay rise is the Royal Bank of Lodamun. Following speculation that the Bank might freeze the accounts of Deltarian clerics, panicked priests, monks, nuns, bishops, archbishops and cardinals have rushed to withdraw their funds and close their accounts. These people, who are now earning more money than before, are likely to deposit their future savings with the Royal Bank of Lodamun's competitors.