BishopAccountability.org
	Vatican under Fire As 4,000 Face Eviction Church Landlords Accused of Speculative Frenzy Conduct 'Not in Line' with Papal Stance on Housing By John Hooper The Guardian October 30, 2007 http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,2201522,00.html Several thousand residents in Rome who face eviction from their rented homes by the Roman Catholic church this week have accused church bodies of indulging in a "speculative frenzy". In a letter to Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian bishops' conference, a committee formed by tenants said: "We have always paid the rent and taken care of our flats. None of the evictions is for non-payment of rent; they are all because of expired leases." The problem is most acute in the centre of the Italian capital, where a quarter of the property is owned by the Vatican and church organisations. The protest could scarcely have come at a more embarrassing time for the Italian Roman Catholic hierarchy or its leader. Last month, Archbishop Bagnasco made a widely reported speech in which he deplored a shortage of low-cost housing. He said: "I am referring in particular to the tragedies of those such as pensioners or single-income families who are served with eviction orders and cannot find alternative [accommodation]." The former Archbishop of Siena, Gaetano Bonicelli, who advises the bishops' conference on social policy, stressed the evictions were being carried out, not by the church directly, but by the property agents of organisations linked to it. However, he said, their conduct was "certainly not in line with the teaching of the popes on the right to housing". He added: "It would be better to take below-market rents than to refuse to give a hand to those who can't make alternative arrangements." Organisations behind the agents range from religious orders and papal colleges to foundations originally set up for charitable purposes that nowadays have only tenuous links to the church. The daily newspaper La Stampa said that from tomorrow, 4,000 properties could be repossessed, of which half were in Rome. A surge in rents at the beginning of the decade made Italian landlords reluctant to grant new leases to existing tenants on the same or similar terms. In many cases, they were getting modest rents for properties which, though usually run down, occupied enviable positions. So far, Italy's politicians have reacted by blocking the removal of some categories of tenant. The latest measure applies to low-income families with children and households with members who are elderly, seriously disabled or terminally ill. It runs out tomorrow. Certain kinds of landlord will not be able to carry out evictions until next autumn, by which time the government hopes to have a new law in place. But ecclesiastical bodies are not among those whose hand is stayed. Tenants at risk include former Vatican employees, their survivors and descendants. Others are simply long-standing tenants of bodies linked to the church.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.