Essai

Ecclesiastical Properties as Common Goods

A Challenge for The Cultural, Social and Economic Development of Local Communities

Davide Dimodugno

According to recent studies, there are about 600,000 places of worship and several thousand monasteries and convents in Europe. The process of secularization, the decrease and displacement of the population, and the reduction of vocations to the sacred life can be held responsible for the redundancy of the assets of the Catholic Church. These buildings represent an impressive heritage of faith, work and creativity of the communities who built them over the centuries. Most of them are considered “cultural heritage” by the legislation of the European States, because of...