The Vatican's new euro coin has encountered some very earthly snags that will delay its advent until some time next month, a Vatican spokesman said today.
"There are some technical problems . . . first they have to get the Italian euro in circulation, then comes the Vatican euro," the Holy See spokesman said today.
Italy has had difficulties getting the new notes and coins into circulation and, in terms of cash transactions in the new coinage, was bottom of the class among the 12 countries that introduced the euro, the European Commission said.
Yesterday, in the first working day of the new cash, only 3 per cent of cash transactions were done entirely in the common currency in Italy compared with 50 per cent in France and The Netherlands.
The Vatican euro, which will feature an up-to-date profile of the Pope, are expected to be snapped up by collectors.
Existing Vatican coins are denominated in lire and feature an image of the Pope when he was younger.