Spain hands list of 1,000 contested Church properties to local authorities

FILE PHOTO: The Giralda tower and the cathedral are pictured in Seville, Spain May 19, 2021. Picture taken May 19, 2021. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's government handed over a list of almost 1,000 properties claimed by the Catholic Church on contested legal grounds to a federation of local authorities on Thursday, taking a first step towards resolving long-running feuds over ownership.

The conflict stems from a law introduced by former conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in 1998 that allowed the Church to register properties linked to religious practice as possessions, even without proof of ownership.