The Church is calling on the faithful to help it through a financially difficult time after it posted a loss of over €1 million in 2008.
The loss was mainly due to higher expenses on restoration and maintenance works, increased salaries and fluctuations in the exchange rates of the sterling and the dollar, according to the financial report for last year.
Dar tal-Providenza, a Church-run home for people with a disability , also contributed to the loss as the donations drastically dropped by €800,000 in 2008 causing it to register a €100,000 loss.
"We must stress that, despite this loss, the Church will keep up its role in society... The number of lay volunteers, that add up to about 50,000, encourage us to keep up our work," Pastoral Secretary Mgr Charles Cordina insisted.
He explained that the Archbishop's Curia would now explore how losses could be cut by identifying priority areas and controlling expenses. However, he declared, there were no plans to stop any services or close homes.
Last month, Mgr Victor Zammit McKeon, director of the central office of children's homes, said the Church was completely "stuck" in terms of finances.
He said a home for the elderly had closed down and another was unable to take more res-idents.
The Curia said that what had in fact happened was that some elderly people had been moved into another home for better management but no one was turned away. There were no plans to do so, a spokesman said.
Mgr Cordina pointed out that, over the past years, the Church faced additional expenses brought about by celebrations such as the appointment of new Archbishop Paul Cremona and the canonisation of Dun Ġorġ Preca.
Pope Benedict's visit to Malta next year would also strain the Church's finances. Just the rental of chairs could cost up to €10,000, he said, stressing that the visit was most welcome.
The Curia's financial controller, Robert Agius, outlined the financial report for 2008.
He explained that the report incorporated 123 entities that included old people and children's homes, media channels, Caritas, the Cana Movement and Dar tal-Providenza.
The Church's total income amounted to €23 million and the expenditure surpassed this by just over €1 million.
Over 40 per cent of the income was generated from parish collections and donations that dec-reased by €257,000 compared to 2007.
Despite the adoption of the euro on January 1, 2008, parishes registered a five per cent increase in money collected. Forecasts for this year suggested there would be a three per cent cut, possibly due to the financial crisis, Mr Agius said.
Last year, parishes registered a positive balance that was, however, lower than the previous year's, by €700,000, due to restoration and maintenance expenses that rose by 71 per cent.
Income from investment, which made up 25 per cent of total income, dropped by €42,000. This could have decreased by a further €600,000 had it not been for the extraordinary dividends of APS Bank, Mr Agius reported. The drop in investment was the result of the financial crisis that weakened the sterling and the dollar by 30 and 21 per cent respectively.
The largest chunk of expenses, 40 per cent, went to pay the salaries of lay employees that increased by €500,000.