22:50 • 22 Jun. 2022
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updated at 22:51 • 22 Jun. 2022
A week later that the Diocese of Almería present to the clergy the result of the audit carried out by Deloittedata from the detailed study carried out by the consultant to know in depth the economic ups and downs of the Almeria Church in the last twelve years.
If the bishop himself, Antonio Gomez Canteroinformed the Diocese through a letter that bank debt amounts to 23,918 million eurosLA VOZ has been able to learn the number of the total debt that the bishopric has today.
Total, the indebtedness would amount to 29 million euros.
‘urgent’ debts
Beyond the grandiloquence of those millionaire figures that the Diocese of Almería owes today and whose origin is, practically in its entirety, consequence of the economic management of the previous bishop, Adolfo Gonzalez Montes (now emeritus), the truth is that the Church of Almería has to face the payment of a part of that debt in the short term.
Specifically, the Diocese of Almería has to pay between now and November a total of 397,607 euros to Banco Santanderone of the financial entities with which there is debt.
Furthermore, and in the medium term, in the next five years a debt of around 8 million euros would have to be paid off.
The report
These figures have become known since they were broken down at the meeting with the clergy last Wednesday held at the House of Spirituality in Aguadulce, since for the time being the Diocese of Almería has not made public the 130-page report written by the Deloitte team who has carried out the audit.
The reason is none other than privacy issues with the consultant itself that prevent the Church of Almería from making all the data public.
In this way, at the moment we are working on the possibility of publish a summary of the main data collected in the audit to carry out the promised transparency on the part of the Diocese itself.
The real estate portfolio
To settle this debt, it should be remembered that Deloitte itself raises a series of recommendations, indicating possible paths to follow. In this way, from the consultant it is indicated that the Diocese of Almería has “many more employees than are needed”, diocesan sources point out.
In addition to this, it has been a property valuation whose direct owner is the Diocese of Almería, assessing what its value could be both for sale and for lease, being the most valuable are the seminary, the spirituality house of Aguadulce and the priestly house of San Juan de Ávila.
Regardless of what they are the solutions chosen from the episcopal government, the prelate himself, Gómez Cantero, already announced in his letter last week that “although it is considerable, we will design a serious approach to be able to assume it.” “Together we must take the necessary steps to move forward. To do this, I will seek the help of a team of trained people, who I will designate later,” announced Gómez Cantero.
Homes on General Castaños street or Don Bosco’s house, in the Los Molinos neighborhood, are other real estate properties owned by the Diocese and that could be object of lease to repair the multimillion-dollar debt of the Diocese.
The Bishop of Bilbao, Monsignor Segura Etxezarragawho defended the management of González Montes beyond the economic, focusing on other pastoral aspects, such as the high number of priests (around fifty) ordained during his almost twenty years as Bishop of Almería.