Grand Council BE Bernese regional churches receive 30 million francs per year

In the canton of Bern, the three national churches will receive CHF 29.4 million per year for their services to society as a whole. On Tuesday, the Grand Council approved the corresponding object credit with 145 votes in favor and four abstentions.

The cantonal contribution is valid from 2026 to 2031. The annual cost-of-living adjustment that the contribution will include caused some discussion in parliament. Parliament agreed that the annual inflation adjustment should be capped at 1.2%, in line with other subsidized businesses.

The Council also called for the regional churches to take a more critical look at the issue of abuse. In future, they will have to report on this and on the associated preventative measures as well as on the process of coming to terms with it.

The SVP failed with its motion that the national churches must remain politically neutral in future and may no longer publicly announce voting or election recommendations.

This is difficult to separate anyway, said Evi Allemann, Head of the Directorate of Home Affairs and Justice. "The social commitment of the churches, the associated social issues - that is politics."

According to the government, the Protestant Reformed Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Christian Catholic Church provide over 225 million francs worth of services to society as a whole every year. This also includes over 830,000 hours of voluntary work, which corresponds to an equivalent value of 44.7 million francs. The basis for the new financing system is the completely revised Church Act.

Commitments in many areas

In the field of education, the regional churches offer a wide range of services. For example, church lessons, German courses, interdisciplinary lecture series and publications on social and societal issues, as stated in the report by the regional churches on their services in the interests of society as a whole in 2020-2021.

The regional churches are socially committed to children and young people, older people, migrants, refugees, people with disabilities and those affected by poverty, the report continued. In addition to target group-specific services, pastoral care is a focus of the regional churches' social commitment. In the area of culture, the churches primarily offer a wide range of musical activities.

SDA