Archbishop: Church has no objections to paying extraordinary surtax for its commercially-exploited properties

Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece on Thursday said that the Church has no objections to paying the extraordinary surtax on real estate property recently announced by the government on its own properties that are commercially exploited.
“In order to avoid misunderstandings, I make it clear that the Church of Greece has never put forward an issue of being exempted from the surtax as regards its commercially exploited property, in a period that the Greek people are suffering,” said Ieronymos in response to press queries.
Ieronymos noted that places of worship and charitable foundations are exempted from the surtax obligation, and stressed that “In these critical times for the country, the Church has intensified its efforts in carrying out its charitable and social mission — and the commercial exploitation of its real estate property is to serve that purpose — in order to heal the wounds that this unprecedented crisis has caused to vulnerable population groups”.