Curia leases Apap Institute to Saudi passport buyer

A massive building in Santa Venera, the Apap Institute, has been leased by the Curia to a Saudi businessman who recently acquired a Maltese passport, The Shift is informed.

Curia sources told The Shift that the lease contract is expected to generate just under a million a year in income for the Curia. However, the identity of the Saudi businessman and the future use of the massive building remain unknown, with the top echelons of the Church, including Archbishop Charles Scicluna, keeping details under wraps, even from Curia insiders.

It is not known whether the Curia conducted thorough due diligence on the businessman fronting this contract and any possible associates. However, questions have been raised in the Curia’s corridors by senior clergymen since the Church was not expected to lease a building associated closely with the Catholic faith to a Muslim businessman.

The Shift has sent questions to the Curia to confirm the lease of the Apap Institute and to provide details about the businessman behind the contract and the institute’s future use. Despite reminders, the Curia’s media office did not reply.

The Apap Institute served as a residential care facility for the elderly for 80 years until it was abruptly closed at the end of 2024.

Managed since 1944 by the Dominican sisters, the Curia, which owns the property, has decided to close the massive home in just a few weeks, citing a lack of nuns, vocations, and high running and restoration costs as the main reasons.

Approximately 30 elderly residents, still in the care of the nuns and some staff members, were relocated to other elderly care facilities when the institute was closed.

At the time, the Church’s decision was met with anger and disdain by several families and relatives of the elderly residents, who criticised the Church’s rushed decision.

On social media, many claimed that the Church wanted the building to make money. Others speculated that the building would be turned into a hotel, a private home, or any other business venture.

So far, no development planning application has been presented on the future use of the once-residential elderly home.