Aqra bil-Malti
The government has issued over €1 million in new stocks to the Church as part of ongoing negotiations on the revision of a 30-year-old agreement on the transfer of Church property to the State.
Through a legal notice issued without any publicity a few days ago, the Finance Ministry approved the issue of €1.1 million in government stocks in the name of the ecclesiastical authorities, with a privileged dividend of 7% per annum – a much higher rate than current market offerings.
At the same time, the government declared that the new stocks shall be redeemed at a premium of 10% over the nominal value in ten years. This means that for every €100 paid to the Curia through these stocks, the ecclesiastical authorities will be paid €110 in 2034, apart from the annual 7% interest.
A spokesman for the Finance Ministry told The Shift that this legal notice was issued as part of crucial and ongoing negotiations with the Church over the revision of the 1991 property agreement.
“The legal notice is in line with the provisions of the Ecclesiastical Entities (Properties) Act, whereby any difference that might result between the total nominal value of the bonds issued to the Church at the time of the agreement dated 28 November 1991 between Government and the Holy See and the value of the property actually transferred to the State (at several points since the agreement was signed and pari passu as the properties get valued and their value is compared to their original estimate) shall be made good by the Government through the issue of bonds of the same tenor (7% minimum), together with the interest due from the date of the agreement.”
So far, both the Curia, headed by Archbishop Charles Scicluna and the government have remained tight-lipped over the secret negotiations held since February 2023.
No details have been given on whether a final settlement has been reached and what the revision will mean to taxpayers. The lack of transparency in these negotiations is a cause for concern. It is not even clear whether the negotiations are still ongoing.
Questions sent to both the government and the Curia remained unanswered.
In 1991, under the Fenech Adami administration, an agreement was reached between the Maltese ecclesiastical authorities and the government to transfer all the Church’s property to the State, with a few exceptions.
The Church was the beneficiary of massive, accumulated property wealth, mainly through donations by followers, primarily through their wills.
In return, the Maltese government agreed to start covering all the costs related to the running of the Church schools (€108 million in 2023), a significant compensation in government stock to 99 ecclesiastical entities and a mechanism whereby the State passes part of the proceedings from the eventual sale of property back to the Church.
The latter mechanism, including the amount of compensation, ended in 2023 – after 30 years – and is now the subject of the ongoing negotiations for its revision.
The Curia has always refused to state its expectations for this revision.
A champion of social issues upon his appointment in 2015, Archbishop Charles Scicluna has lately been criticised for his silence on major issues, including corruption, exploitation of foreign workers and increasing poverty.
Many believe the Archbishop’s sudden change of attitude has to do with the millions of government funds awarded to the Church during the past years and the ongoing negotiations on revising the 1991 property deal.
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Nowadays you can’t trust anyone, not least the church.
I sincerely hope that the church is not being bought by this super corrupt muvument.
This is Mafia style charity to the local parish.
Very strange the Church fell for a ?1.1 million donation by the government.
Is the government trying to buy the Church’s Silence as well?
Has it?
This deal and similar ones in the past and future will make of the church another Portelli.
Yes I think so. It is behaving like a “flusiera”. Such deals give the church a bad name.
Truly amazing what the government chooses to do with public money.
Kwart ta’ dak ntefqu fuq ic-cinema awards.
Those who follow the homilies of and the catechesis by the Archbishop and the two other bishops — Galea Curmi and Teuma — know that the church in Malta has spoken quite clearly about corruption, about the exploitation of foreign workers and on the increasing social and other forms of impoverishment. Just because certain newspapers and media outlets do not follow closely these homilies and catecheses or do not give them prominence, it does not mean that the church is silent. Not only has the church not been silent, but in the areas where it is competent and able to act effectively, it has always transited from words to actions (e.g. through the work of the Migrants Commission, work with the elderly, the soup kitchens, counselling, to mention just a few). Few ever give credit to the local church’s Diaconia work, and to the indefatigable work of Mgr Charles Cordina.
Of course, if one expects the Archbishop to act like a Leader of the Opposition, then that is definitely not his role.
1 million is the price of one unit these days!!! what is it about is an other matter.
Amazing what the citizens, let government do, with their money and assets.
Only political hotheads expect the Archbishop to act like a leader of the Opposition. But everybody expects the Church to be completely transparent when dealing with outside bodies eg the government: in this way the people’s trust will be enhanced.
What you don’t all remember is the way, that previous government forcibly took land from the Church all via a very flimsy contract. The agreement was illegal and had it been challenged in Court, the Church would’ve won, but back then none of the eclesiastical higher ups wanted to create a stink. Over the years, church institutions, like retirement homes, started running at a loss, just so as not to close down and leave the problem of housing the residents to depend on government, who also had no resources. But that was then and someone within the Church today has decided it’s time to pay up. You might not agree, but that illegal contract must be put right. Please also remember that government took Church lands on condition that it would create social housing. But then that land ended up being sold for pittance to friends of the friends. That was a PN government, incidentally. Goes to show how both parties are two sides of the same corrupt coin.
Your concluding sentence belies facts.
It was KMB’s administration, back in 1984 which forced the Church to stop asking for school-fees – suggesting, if you remember as well as many of us still do – that it sell its silver to keep up with the resulting expenses.
Either your idea of that ugly page of local history is rather hazy or it is not existent at all, since you may have entered this world after that time or did not have school children who were forced to have alternative schooling in premises elsewhere – while the nuns and the resident clergy were practically imprisoned in their schools and heavily guarded by the police as if they were criminals.
That the lands taken from the Church’s ownership landed up being sold for a pittance to friends we all know how and by whom they were – and perhaps still are being – ‘donated’!