Papal visit doubles Church deficit to €1.7 million

A €1.3 million Papal visit in April 2010, the losses of interest on investments since 2008, less donations and media revenue, have brought the Maltese church to a crossroads, according its financial report for 2010.

"Our biggest problem is that we have arrived at a point where we don't have enough money for all our commitments and to enter new commitments," the Church said in its report.

Pastoral secretary Mgr Charles Cordina said the greatest expense during the papal visit was the construction of the tribunes and audiovisual equipment, but many professional services were provided for free.

Altogether, in 2010 the Church's central operations and other institutes and media subsidiaries received €24.5 million in income, down by €250,000 from 2009. The drivers were mainly a €600,000 drop in collections and donations, and over €350,000 from its investment income. Media sales were also halved since the closure of the print edition of Il-Gens newspaper, with revenue down to €300,000 from €605,000 in 2009.

On the other hand, expenditure increased from €25.6 million in 2009 to €26.2 million, largely driven by the €1.3 million cost of Pope Benedict XVI's visit, which was slightly alleviated by €200,000 in donations and DVD sales.

Financial controller Robert Agius said the Maltese archdiocese was now "eating off its capital" because its reserves and accumulated funds had finished. "Since the 2008 crisis our income from investments has suffered... Now we are looking to our actual financial assets to sustain the Church's operations. It can turn into a vicious circle that can lead to reduced revenues from these assets," Agius said.

Mgr Anton Portelli, the Church's administrative secretary, pointed out that the Ecclesiastical Tribunal had cost the Church over €544,000 in the last year. "Let no retired judge say anything else to the contrary," he quipped, referring to comments by Philip Sciberras that the Church needed the fees it levied on parties in marriage annulments.

One of the Church's main concerns is that the lack of vocations has meant that there are less religious tending to duties inside Church institutes and more paid employees are now needed to administer the services. The Church employs 528 full-time employees and 328 part-timers inside the archdiocese, as well as 325 full-time and 189 part-time workers in social institutions.

The Archdiocese paid €10.3 million on lay employees, apart from €2.4 million in clerical remunerations for 267 diocesan priests.

A reduction in spending was on parish feasts: in 2010 the parish churches forked out €68,000 less on feasts in total costing €396,000.

The Church's donations amounted to €8.96 million in 2010, a reduction of €651,000 over the previous year. Income from investments amounted to €5.9 million (down €355,000).

Pastoral secretary Mgr Charles Cordina could not offer a prognosis as to whether the Church's campaign against divorce this year will cost the Church further reductions in donations and collections inside parish churches. He also could not say whether an increase in divorce proceedings would lead to a reduction in expenses for the marriage annulment tribunals.