National
Spanish Bishops say the Church has no intention of self-funding
By h.b. - Feb 19, 2008 - 8:06 AM
email this articleIt comes after the Government has threatened to review the money paid to the Church by the State
The Spanish Bishops Conference has said that the Catholic Church in Spain has no intention of funding itself, or of changing the way it receives funding from the State.
The Deputy Secretary for Economic Affairs of the Conferencia Episcopal, Fernando Jiménez, speaking in Córdoba, said that the last agreement on financing was only put in place at the end of 2006. He noted that the Church did not receive a grant from the state, but instead only received payment for each tax payer who ticked the appropriate box in the tax forms. In that way he said the Church depended on the generosity of the Catholics and the faithful.
The Church obtains 153 million € currently from the Government, about 15%-20% of their total income, with the rest coming from collections and subscriptions. But, he said that the needs of the Church ‘are immense’, underlying the social work carried out, which he claimed helped 2.5 million Spaniards a year.
Jiménez said that the Church attended to 60,000 pensioners in 800 homes across the country, as well as to 100,000 people in hospital and 500,000 in centres against poverty. He also claimed the Church helped 27,000 women who are ex prostitutes or victims of domestic violence every year.
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