By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

Citing an example where a church was sold and then transformed into a strip club, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Culture is urging bishops not to sell churches to organizations that will transform them into nightclubs.

According to a report by Australia’s Herald Sun, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi announced that due to dwindling numbers of worshipers, Roman Catholic churches could be sold, or even destroyed. However, he urged great caution in not letting these sacred buildings fall into the wrong hands.

He gave the example of a church in Hungary that was sold, then “transformed into a nightclub where striptease took place on the altar.”

“Faced with falling number of worshippers, a phenomenon which we are also unfortunately witnessing in the centre of Rome, churches without any artistic value and which need significant work can be sold or destroyed,” he said.

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