” “"I think and hope this presence and this charitable work carried out by the Church through the centuries and the millennia will be acknowledged at all levels; not simply acknowledged, but acknowledged with esteem, trust and gratitude as well". These are the words of mgr. Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian Bishops Conference, about the "inquiry" opened by the European Union about alleged tax concessions granted to the Catholic Church, in particular its exemption from the payment of ICI (the Council Tax). The prelate, interviewed by the Vatican Radio Station, expressed the hope that "the attitude towards the Church will be unbiased, unprejudiced, non-ideological with no open or hidden self-interests and that therefore the work that the Church has always carried out and still carries out to the benefit of the poorest and weakest, providing the human, economic and financial resources the Christian community owns, will be expressly appreciated". In addition, the president of the Italian Bishops Conference mentioned that "such exemptions concerns all non-profit organisations, including of course the Church, which effectively, permanently and consistently take care of the problems of social exclusion, fragility, weakness, poverty".” “
