![]() For 102 years, Saint Agnes offered the Catholic residents of Buffalo, New York, a place for worship. Recent earthquakes in the country have also led to the destruction or damage to about 13,000churches.The issue needs to be handled with a “value-based and pastoral approach,” said Cardinal NunzioGalantino, head of the Italian bishops’ conference and recently tapped by Pope Francis to head the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, or APSA, the office that handles the Vatican’s investment portfolio and its real estate holdings – as well as serving as the Vatican employment office and procurement agency.The church at 194 Ludington Avenue isn’t what it used to be. The others are either under the FEC or owned by private entities. There is a constellation of over 100,000 churches in Italy, though only about 65,000 continue to be managed by the bishops. The issue is especially relevant in Italy, Ravasi added, due to the sheer number of churches. “The phenomenon is one of the mirrors of the decline of religious practice and the clergy, of the progress of secularization,” the Vatican culture czar said. In total, FEC manages over 820 churches on the boot-shaped peninsula. In Italy, for example, some of the most beloved churches of natives and tourists alike don’t actually belong to the Catholic Church but were seized by the Italian state in the 1800s.Ī places of worship fund, or “FEC”, in the Italian Interior Ministry actually holds control over the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence as well as Santa Maria sopra Minerva and Santa Andrea della Valle in Rome. “The first is historical, because the issue of requisitions of Church property has always happened, just think of Napoleon and then the Renaissance,” he said. Ravasi pointed to the multiple factors that affect the questions of unutilized churches. “We have registered an extraordinary interest by the bishops of various countries,” Ravasi said.The congress aims at presenting guidelines on the disposal and reutilizations of the Church’s patrimony. ![]() Secularization, a decrease in vocations and economic mismanagement have led to significant challenges for many parishes worldwide, and speakers at the press event said that the problem exists in many countries. Given the massive scope of Church properties around the world, it comes as no surprise that there’s no exact number of struggling and abandoned churches. That’s why the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and the Gregorian University in Rome have called for an international congress next November 29-30 called, “Does God not live here anymore? Disposal of places of worship and integrated management of ecclesiastical cultural assets,” to be held at the Jesuit-run campus. While in these cases churches maintained at least the power to unite the community and bring people together, in many others, spiritual spaces are left in disrepair or forgotten. The Church of Santa Barbara in Llanera in Spain has been refurbished with psychedelic art to welcome skateboarders. The Church of San Lorenzo in Venice, Italy, is now a concert hall. ![]() The Dominican Selexyz Church in the Netherlands today hosts a library and cafeteria. The cardinal referred to a case in the Czech Republic where a Catholic church was transformed into a night club, but there are many others. “You see it in the parish priest who is in difficulty and doesn’t know what to do, creating gelato shops, garages, pubs, or even worse,” he added. “It’s a cultural and pastoral phenomenon of great importance,” said Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, at a press conference. Vatican officials recently set out to rescue these forgotten religious sites, and the artistic and sacred treasures they contain, by issuing guidelines on how to address their disposition. What’s less discussed is the fate of churches, parishes and basilicas faced with economic challenges and scarce attendance. The secularization that’s swept over the West, alienating many from the Catholic faith, left empty pews in its wake.
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