Spain: Catholic Church agrees to return usurped real estate

MADRID (AP) — The body representing Catholic bishops in Spain has acknowledged that nearly 1,000 real estate properties across the country were registered as possessions of the church despite having no proof of ownership or clearly belonging to others. The Catholic Church will now begin a process to “regularize” those properties. Dioceses and individual parishes for years used their influence in local registries and a legal reform undertaken by a conservative administration to list in official records as their property churches and adjacent premises, educational facilities, monasteries, residential buildings, as well as empty plots of land. Monday’s announcement followed a meeting between the head of the Spanish bishops, Cardinal Juan José Omella, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.