Spanish Catholics have set a new record of donations to the Catholic Church. This year, it was estimated that one in three of all Spanish taxpayers have made donations to the Church. Furthermore, the total number of donations from 2022 more than doubled that of the previous year.
Every year, during tax season, the people of Spain are offered the option to donate some of their personal income tax payments to religious organizations. SUR in English reports that more than 8.5 million Spaniards opted to dedicate 0.7% of their income tax to the Church this year. The donations total an estimated 320 million euros, an average of about 38 euros per taxpayer. Some 84,000 people chose this option for the first time this year.
While the catalyst for such a monumental increase in donations has not been pinned down, the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) suggested that it was due to the troubling world events in recent years, such as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and unrest in Middle Eastern and Latin American countries. CEE's Vice-Secretary for Economic Affairs, Fernando Giménez Barriocanal, commentted:
“The Church has its lights and shadows; we are well aware of the shadows, but also in the hardest moments that we have experienced, and that we will continue to experience, the work of accompanying the church will be required. And when this happens, contributions increase.”
While the donations to the Catholic Church set a new record, the Church was not alone in its good fortune. SUR notes that three times as many taxpayers donated to charitable organizations other than the Church. It is estimated that the Catholic Church in Spain receives some 22% of its annual funding from these donations. While the report did not note what percentage the increased donations would account for, they did note that some of these funds will go towards settling cases with victims of sexual abuse.
