Government threatens financing of Church

The left-leaning Luxembourg Government is considering ending state subsidies for Churches and religious education in state schools, writes Tom Heneghan.

Elected last year, it has already legalised same-sex marriage and adoption, and Archbishop of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Hollerich said if the latest measure is carried through, the Church in the Grand Duchy may have to send seminarians to France rather than Germany. If the Government stops paying salaries of priests and religion teachers, Archbishop Hollerich said, the Church could only continue for about three years. “After that we would be bankrupt,” he said.

 Archbishop Hollerich said he had already sent the first Luxembourg seminarian to study in France, where the Church is self-financing, rather than Germany, where the bilingual  Luxembourgers usually study. “I have to look more towards France, because we are getting poorer and don't have as much money as the German Church,” he told KNA news agency.