From left to right: Jorge Otaduy, Antonio Viana and Diego Zalbidea. PHOTO: Manuel Castells

"The Church claims the ownership of its patrimony out of respect for the truth and fidelity to its history, not to 'privatize' the temples and do business". Jorge Otaduy, professor of the School of Canon Law of the University of Navarra, made these statements on the occasion of the opening of the IX Symposium of high school Martín de Azpilcueta, which is held under the degree scroll 'Legal regime of places of worship. New frontier of religious freedom'.

The words of Professor Otaduy make reference letter to the registration of the Catholic temples in the Property Registry, which has raised debates in some localities of Navarre. This Registry, according to the expert, exists to give advertising about the real rights on the real estate, so that everybody knows who is the owner and what limitations affect them.

"Traditionally, the Church had in Spain the privilege of not registering temples in the Property Registry, because those goods, it was said, 'were not in the commerce of men' and the Church's domain was notorious," he explained. "The alleged privilege -he added- was abolished in 1998, through a reform of the Mortgage Regulation that ended with the prohibition to register the temples in the Land Registry, which in reality was source of a great legal insecurity".

In this sense, he denied that the Church "has initiated a policy of 'spoliation' of the patrimony of the people", but that it is registering properties "that have maintained an exclusively religious use throughout decades, and even centuries".

Regulation of temples

On the other hand, the canonist of the University of Navarra spoke of the regulation of places of worship: "There is a growing intervention by public administrations in the control of places of religious worship and that these interventions are beginning to be supported by new laws".   

As an example, he mentioned the case of Catalonia, where "a 2009 rules and regulations submits all temples to a special opening licence that involves an extremely strict regime in subject security. With these regulations, it is easy to find a reason to close a church, even if it does not pose a real problem for the safety of people". However, he stressed that at present "they are trying to correct some of the excesses of the new law".

The 9th International Symposium of high school Martín de Azpilcueta will address the legal regime of places of worship from the perspective of both general law - constitutional and legal aspects - and sectoral law: urban planning, fiscal and administrative. Experts from academic centers in Italy and Spain will deal with topics such as places of worship in Spanish and international law, the economic management of the diocese's real estate assets, and places of worship as part of the cultural heritage, among others.