HOLY SMOKES

Catholic Church Raked in $3 Billion From U.S. Pandemic Paycheck Program, Says Report

New analysis shows the church may have been the single biggest beneficiary of the U.S. government’s COVID-19 relief fund while sitting on at least $10 billion in cash.

The Catholic Church may have been the single biggest beneficiary of the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program during the COVID-19 crisis, raking in a reported $3 billion in taxpayer-funded business relief. The staggering figure comes from an analysis of the payouts from the Associated Press, which states that $3 billion has been dished out to the nation’s dioceses and other Catholic institutions. That money came in despite many dioceses being in good financial health—for example, the Diocese of Charlotte requested $8 million in aid despite having a reported $100 million of their own cash and short-term investments in the bank last spring, when the pandemic hit. Those assets were valued at $110 million by the summer, according to the AP. A spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Chieko Noguchi, said the federal program was designed to help all types of business, “faith-based or secular.”