seized thousands of assets, from castles to apartments on the beach

In 17 years, the Spanish Catholic Church registered in his name 35,000 goods that you will have to return if they are legally claimed.

El gobierno de coalición español noted that, between 1998 and 2015, the Iglesia matriculó como propios 34.961 monumentos, fincas y edificios, entre otros inmuebles, gracias a una ley del gobierno de José María Aznar (Partido Popular) que, con sólo una certificación ecles -that is to say, the signature of a bishop– It allowed the Church to be registered as the owner of property of historical and heritage value of the Mosque of Cordoba, for example, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984 in Buenos Aires.

“This comes from a mortgage law resulting from a Francoist settlement. But it is that Aznar, when he makes a change, maintains Franco’s idea. And the Church did it because the law allowed it, ”said the first vice-president of the government, Carmen Calvo, who was part of the commission that for years relieved properties registered by the Church.

Calvo confessed to having met with the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Juan José Omella, and assured that “there will be a reasonable position of the Catholic Church itself ”.

“The Church is in a position to know that there are things which have surely been recorded and which should not be,” added Vice President Calvo.

For a few days, at the Congress of Deputies, the 3,000-page list which includes castles, farms, apartments on the beach, vineyards, car parks, premises, orchards, fields.

Municipalities and individuals who believe they have rights to these properties they can claim them.

According to the report, some 20,000 buildings correspond to temples and outbuildings and the remaining 15,000 have other uses.

Castilla y León is the autonomous community that registers the highest number of “inscriptions” in the name of the Church, as they are called here, where the ecclesiastical certifications were 8,706. It is followed by Galicia – with 6,210 – and Catalonia with 3,650.

Some properties, like the Cathedral of Granada, which was registered on June 22, 2015, do not appear on the list of properties that the government passed on to Parliament.

Cordoba Mosque

Others like Cordoba MosqueThey embody the scandalous privilege granted to the Catholic Church.

“The case of La Mezquita is emblematic because it is a building of extraordinary historical and patrimonial importance which is managed according to exclusively confessional criteria”, he explains to Bugle historian and professor at the University of Huelva, Alejandro García Sanjuán.

“The Church transformed the Mosque of Cordoba into a kind of catholic museum in which he exhibits Catholic worship and little importance is given to the historical dimension – adds the historian. This is combined with the implementation of a false story on the building, insisting that before it was a mosque it was a Christian church, which is not proven from a historical or archaeological point of view. “

García Sanjuán was a member of the commission organized by the City of Cordoba to prepare its own report. Carmen Calvo, who at the time was not vice-president of Spain, and the former director-general of UNESCO, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, were also part of this working group.

“The report we produced was made public in 2018. It had a historical part and then a legal part. I worked on the historical part with another colleague. The issue of registration has been considered irregular and unconstitutional -a said Sanjuán-. Most of them have not been overturned in court. Some do. Some jurists believe that legislation is needed to address the issue globally and not on a case-by-case basis. “

And he clarifies: “The mosque is a building which, due to its monumental nature, was declared a national monument in the 19th century and in the 20th century a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It has traditionally been in the hands of the Church as a Catholic temple since the conquest of the city in the Middle Ages, in 1236, by Christians. The mosque became a Catholic church and it was used in this way, although the civil authorities actively intervened because it has always had a very emblematic character ”.

Regarding the legal question, the historian emphasizes that “the question of property has not been resolved. For this reason, in 2006, the Church, taking advantage of the window that Aznar opened for it, made the recording by a simple declaration from the bishop, who acted as a notary. But not to exist a title deed until that time, although the Church claims it has documents from the time of the Christian conquest, the time of King Fernando III, which prove ownership. But this not proven nor accredited ”.

The Catholic Church, adds Sanjuán, “exploits the tourist interest of the building”.

“The logical thing would be that it belong to the state and be managed by a board of directors of which the Church should be part,” he said.

Madrid. Corresponding

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