Madrid, Spain, Jun 18, 2010 / 10:20 am
An estimate of the sum total of charitable work performed by the Catholic Church and her members shows that the Church saves Spain billions of euros every year, reported the vice secretary of Economic Affairs for the Spanish Bishop’s Conference.
During the presentation of a report on charitable and pastoral work carried out in 2008, Fernando Gimenez Barriocanal said Thursday that the Church is “the largest provider of assistance in Spain.” That work, he said, is inspired by “the proclamation and living of the faith.”
Barriocanal remarked that the work done by Catholic charitable organizations such as Caritas and Manos Unidas has helped 2.8 million people in nearly 4,500 centers. The figures for 2010 are expected to be much higher because of the economic crisis.
He also reported that priests and pastoral workers devoted more than 45 million hours to the faithful. In market terms, that would amount to a contribution of more than 1.8 billion euros. Taking into account that the Church spent 680 million euros in 2008, each euro spent brought a return on investment of 2.73.