Claims against the Catholic church can be doubled

The Culture Ministry has ordered the Catholic Church to pay back some NOK 40 million. The amount can be over twice as large when up to 384 municipalities  are bringing their demands.

Many municipalities have already announced that they will demand money back if the state prevailed with its claim. The Catholic Church  risks having to repay over 80 million, according to the newspaper Aftenposten.

Oslo Catholic Diocese handles the member registry of the Catholic Church in Norway. In 2011  the church started registering people with their knowledge in its records, in order tp get more financial support ffrom the government.  The Ministry of Culture states that  the member registration ‘happened in an illegal manner which has given too high membership numbers. ” The church must, therefore, repay 40.5 million kroner.

According to an inventory made by the newspaper Vart Land, as many as 384 municipalities have submitted their own claims against the church.

In a press release on Friday the church write that they have never registered too many members and want the courts to shed llight on the situation..

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today