The church made a loss of over a million euros last year, pastoral secretary Mgr Charles Cordina said this morning.

Addressing a news conference, Mgr Cordina said this was mainly due to the exchange rate, the increase in expenses including for maintenance and restoration and the upping of salaries.

Mgr Cordina said that the church’s two main methods of revenue were donations and collections (41 per cent) and investment (25 per cent).

Total income from collections and donations dropped by €257,000, mainly due to a decrease in donations to the Dar tal-Providenza. These dropped by €800,000, leading the home to suffer a loss of €100,000.

The church fared quite well in collections parishes and the loss was due to expenses, such as restoration. The changeover from the Maltese lira to the euro led to an increase of about five per cent in donations.

Mgr Cordina said that revenue from investments dropped by €42,000, because of the global financial crisis.

Despite this loss the church, which is made up of 123 entities, was to continue to fulfil its role in society but would have to identify priorities. It would also be discussing ways to ease this loss, which was not a record one.

The church’s total expenditure last year amounted to €24,270,000, an increase of €900,000 over the previous year. Its employees now number 1,115.