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It has been happening since 2005: the Sanctuary of Fátima, the structure of the Catholic Church that moves the most money in Portugal, refuses to publicly reveal how much it bills, how much it spends and how it spends the money of the faithful. Only known to be in the millions, most of the pilgrim offerings, Portuguese and foreigners, who visit that place every year, one of the most visited Catholic sanctuaries in the world.
Although the internal law of the Catholic Church stipulates, as a general rule, that religious institutions must render accounts to the faithful about the offers they receive and what is done with them., the Shrine of Fátima invokes a dispute in the interpretation of the 2004 Concordat (the document that establishes diplomatic relations between Portugal and the Holy See), in fiscal matters, to refuse to reveal the accounts – and guarantees that, when the problem resolved , the numbers are public again.
On the one hand, Canon Law (the Church’s own legislation that is even mentioned in the statutes of the sanctuary) defines that religious institutions must be transparent in rendering accounts to the faithful. On the other hand, the legislation of the diocese of Leiria-Fátima – whose bishop has jurisdiction over Fátima – explicitly determines the public disclosure of the report and accounts, which reflects the number of all institutions under the government of the bishop. However, since 2009 (the year the legislation was updated), the diocese has also not released the accounts. He did it for the first time this year, already after the Observer sent the first questions about the accounts, and not including the accounts of the Shrine of Fatima.
Over fifteen years, lack of public accountability has become the sanctuary’s regular controversy. There were rare press conferences, organized on May 13 and October 13, in which the question did not arise, always with the same response from bishops and rectors. This year, however, the controversy was intensified by the financial impact of the pandemic, at the same time that the internal challenge to the management of the sanctuary became more forceful and made public..
According to figures from the institution itself, the Covid-19 pandemic meant a 99% reduction in visits by organized groups and, as a consequence, a 77% drop in income obtained through donations from the faithful. Due to the impact of the pandemic (a “dramatic year”, In the words of the rector of the institution), the sanctuary implemented a restructuring plan that will involve the departure of up to 50 employees, including early retirements, non-renewal of fixed-term contracts and amicable terminations.
The controversy generated by the first news of TVI, which spoke of the dismissal of about a hundred workers in the middle of a pandemic – and that the sanctuary was quick to deny – did not change the institution’s opinion regarding the accounts, what remains unknown to the faithful.
To this controversy was added, in a matter of days, another: the financial management of the Sanctuary of Fatima has been, in recent months, the target of harsh internal criticism, originally from the clergy of the diocese of Leiria-Fátima. Some dissenting voices within the Church rebelled against the priests who run the institution, accusing them of running the Shrine of Fatima as a business, rather than as a religious body, and of earning much higher salaries (in some cases, more than triple ) to those of the other priests of the diocese.
What (little) is known about the accounts of the Sanctuary of Fatima between 2006 and 2020
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Profit
During these fifteen years, the Shrine of Fatima has almost always had positive net results. The rector said in an interview with Expresso that, during this period, the institution only registered negative balances in three years, and 2020 should be, due to the pandemic, the fourth year of losses. Negative results will have been related to changes in the accounting organization.
66% came from the faithful in 2019
The main source of income for the sanctuary is the offerings of the faithful. In 2005, the last year in which the public accounts were presented, the faithful had contributed 9.3 million euros to the accounts of the sanctuary (more than half of the total income). For the Observer, the sanctuary said that the value of the offerings “varies a lot from one year to another” and added, although without disclosing absolute values, that in 2019 the offerings of pilgrims represented 66% of the income.
Donations fell 77% in 2020
The pandemic forced the sanctuary to close the enclosure and cancel the celebrations that most of the pilgrims took to Fatima, including on May 13, which was held with the enclosure completely empty. In a press release issued on September 3, the shrine revealed that donations fell 77% during the pandemic period, as a result of a sharp drop in the number of pilgrims visiting Fatima in the first half of the year.
More than 230 thousand euros for the diocese in 2019
The sanctuary expenses column includes an annual contribution that the institution offers to the diocese of Leiria-Fátima, where it is located. According to the diocesan accounts for 2019, last year the sanctuary transferred 231,878.29 euros to the coffers of the diocese. This is the majority (47%) of the diocesan financial fund’s income last year.
780 thousand euros for the most disadvantaged in the first half of 2020
In total, the sanctuary provided economic support to social solidarity institutions, needy families and institutions of the Catholic Church (specifically the diocese of Leiria-Fátima) for a total of 780,871 euros, according to a statement released on September 8. In the same statement, the sanctuary assured that support for families and people in need would increase by 60%.
At least since the beginning of 2020, this malaise has been heard among the priests of Leiria-Fátima. In January, an anonymous letter was sent to all the priests of the diocese with a series of charges against the priests of Fatima. More recently, the controversy returned to an internal meeting of the presbyteral council of the diocese of Leiria-Fátima, in which accusations arose against an “invalid” and “illegal” deliberation that legitimized the “exorbitant salary” of the priests in Fatima. The argument used is simple: if the sanctuary is an institution of the diocese, the priests who work there must be subject to the same standards in terms of salary.
The Sanctuary of Fátima, in statements to the Observer, assures that the institution is, since 2006, a national sanctuary – and, since then, “it was never subject to the regulation of the diocese of Leiria-Fátima”. “Given that the Holy See determined that this would become a national sanctuary, there is no diocesan body that exercises supervision in the management of the sanctuary,” argues the institution.
In accounts and internal disputes about financial management, the question is always the same: after all, who does the Shrine of Fatima report to? The internal criticism arises from the interpretation that the sanctuary is under the jurisdiction of the diocese, but the institution also has national rank and considers that economic matters, in fact, depend on the National Council.
To understand how the financial issue became the new secret of Fatima, it is necessary to go back to 2004, the year in which the new Concordat came into force, a document that establishes diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Portugal and defines the rules that apply. . to the Catholic institutions of the country. For the Sanctuary of Fátima, the revision of the Concordata left unanswered questions regarding taxes, although, in the several times that those responsible for the institution spoke on the subject, the sanctuary was not entirely clear what is in I play in this conflict. unsolved.
“This is a dispute over the scope of the Church’s fiscal obligations, since the interpretation of the legal norms that apply the text of the current Concordat between Portugal and the Holy See is not clear.”Said the Shrine of Fatima to the Observer. “This is not a dispute between the Sanctuary and the State, but an issue that has not yet been clarified, which concerns all institutions.”
In the opinion of the Sanctuary of Fátima, these unclear facts “distort, in some way, the stories to be presented,” as the rector of the institution, Father Carlos Cabecinhas, said in 2017. Even so, as reported by the official source of the Sanctuary of Fátima told the Observer, this clarification aspect will not have an impact on the financial stability of the institution when it is resolved ”,since the budget provides annually for a provisional allocation for the tax obligations in question, so that, when the controversy is resolved, the Sanctuary can fulfill its responsibilities without causing a budgetary imbalance”.
Until 2005, the Shrine of Fatima publicly presented its accounts to the faithful (traditionally at the end of the pilgrimage on June 13). However, due to this dispute, the Portuguese bishops and the sanctuary management decided that they would no longer reveal the institution’s figures. It is only possible to have a rough idea of the financial dimension of the Shrine of Fatima from the figures presented so far. For example, in 2003 the sanctuary had a profit of 8.4 million euros, with the offers of the pilgrims that represent the greater part of the income of Fatima (8.7 of more than 17 million euros). The latest public accounts of the sanctuary refer to 2005, the year in which the sanctuary was registered losses for the first time. Although the institution generated 17.2 million euros of income (9.3 million of which came from the offerings of the pilgrims), the enormous investment made in the construction of the modern Basilica of the Holy Trinity made the accounts of the sanctuary sank to the detriment of 3.7 million euros.
