Curia deficit deepens to €3.44 million as property spending questions persist

The Archbishop’s Curia recorded a €3.4 million deficit in 2025, a deterioration of almost €759,000 from the previous year, as expenditure and subsidies outpaced rising income from investments and property rentals.

The worsening position at the Church’s central administration contrasts with that of the broader Archdiocese of Malta, whose overall deficit narrowed to €1.04 million from €1.42 million.

The Curia forms part of the Archdiocese, so the two shortfalls should not be added together.

The figures emerge from the Church’s financial overview, released alongside a statement emphasising €1.3 million in donations and support for vulnerable people.

The statement does not mention the Curia’s larger deficit or quantify spending on the Archbishop’s controversial country residence near Rabat.

Curia income increased by 6.3% to €12.31 million, while expenditure rose by 6.6% to €15.78 million. Its shortfall before subsidies stood at €3.48 million. Subsidies of €854,630 pushed that gap to €4.33 million before investment gains, an impairment reversal and exchange movements reduced the final deficit.

The Church’s media operations, which run at a huge loss, received €549,447, almost two-thirds of the subsidies.

The results follow controversy within the Curia over the conversion of an outside-development-zone farmhouse near Buskett into a country residence for Archbishop Charles Scicluna.

The Shift’s investigation reported estimated expenditure running into hundreds of thousands of euros, citing clerics who questioned the project’s necessity given the Archbishop’s existing Mdina residence. It described three bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and landscaped grounds among many other amenities.

The Curia said the property belonged to the Archbishop’s Estate, had been restored at the Estate’s expense and was intended for official use. It also said communications adviser Steve Mallia received no additional remuneration for his involvement in furnishings and interior design.

The latest financial overview neither identifies the project nor establishes its cost, funding source or accounting treatment. Curia repairs, maintenance and improvements rose to €765,050 from €618,582, but the documents provide no basis for attributing that increase to the residence.

Church property income, meanwhile, grew sharply.

Curia rents more than doubled to €877,771, while rental income across the Archdiocese reached €3.16 million, up 61%.

The Shift reported in November 2025 that the former Apap Institute had been leased for 30 years to a company ultimately controlled by Hani Ahmad Zaki Yamani, potentially generating €50 million over the agreement. The overview does not identify any contribution from that deal, which was made without an open call.

The full audited accounts for 2025 presneted by the Curia’s chief executive Michael Pace Ross were not published.