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Spain: in hard times, Church assists more people


As the economic crisis in Spain has grown worse, The Catholic Church has assisted more people in need, a spokesman for the Spanish Bishops Conference said on Friday. Bishop Fernando Gimanez Barriocanal from the Economic Affairs department of the Conference said the number of people assisted by the Church increased by 31.8 per cent in 2009, reaching more than 3.6 million people - 881,613 more than the previous year.

A total of 4,862 Church health centres served 3,646,332 people, he said. "Clearly when there is economic crisis, people know where to go. The Church presents herself as the first network of health care for the citizens in Spain". He said in economic terms, the Church's contribution to society was "a complex mission", adding that the contribution to health, education, cultural and pastoral work meant a saving of millions of Euros to the nation's coffer.

Bishop Fernando also highlighted the work of the 17,000 Spanish missionaries who are scattered around the world, including some 12,000 in Latin America and the work of the NGO Manos Unidas and Caritas which run more than one thousand projects in 58 countries.

Source: Fides

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