Latvian government order to fund only Catholic church repairs was withdrawn after questions

Latvia's historic churches face a chronic shortage of restoration funding — this year only a fraction of the more than seven million euros requested by parishes was covered by the state. Emergency state funding for such repairs is usually distributed among several religious denominations at once, to avoid favoring one over another. Yet this summer, according to the show "Nekā personīga," a draft government order proposed allocating money exclusively to Riga's Catholic Church of Our Lady of Sorrows.

The letter and its path through government

Three weeks after Andris Kulbergs' new government was approved, the prime minister's office received a letter from Riga's Catholic Archbishop-Metropolitan Zbigņevs Stankevičs requesting funds to address the risk of collapse at the church. The office is led by Mareks Gruškevics, who previously founded the Catholic "Radio Marija" and serves alongside Archbishop Stankevičs on the board of Riga's Roman Catholic Gymnasium. The letter was forwarded to the Ministry of Culture, and in August a decision reached the government's agenda to grant the requested 375,000 euros.

Gruškevics denied that the initiative was pushed with his backing, saying he had not previously known of any unwritten rule against singling out one denomination. Culture Ministry officials said the order's progress stalled once it became clear it broke with established practice, and the ministry prepared proposals covering other churches in need as well.

Final outcome

Last week the government approved nearly a million euros (998,161 euros) for five sites — alongside the Catholic church, funding also went to a Lutheran church in Tukums, an Orthodox cathedral in Liepāja, and an Old Believers' prayer house in Riga.

The Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, located next to the Presidential Palace, is the first Catholic church built in Livonia after the Reformation. Last year it already received 375,000 euros to reinforce its foundations, alongside other churches in poor condition. The new funds are meant to eliminate the most dangerous cracks, including one above the altar. Beyond the annual emergency allocations, a separate Sacred Heritage Fund exists, with a budget of 1.5 million euros this year — far short of the more than seven million euros in requests submitted by the denominations.