The Court of Cosenza has completely rejected the request for compensation for damages of over 121 million euros made by Comabbio Securatization Srl against the Archdiocese of Cosenza-Bisignano in relation to the bankruptcy of the Pope John XXIII Institute nursing home in Serra D’Aiello, in the province of Cosenza. The Archdiocese itself makes this known.
The accusations of Comabbio Securatisation
The company, assignee of the bankruptcy trustee’s credits, it is written in a note, had requested compensation for financial damages, charging the Archdiocese with an alleged responsibility for failure to control the activity of the then Monsignor. Alfredo Luberto, administrator of the Foundation, subsequently criminally convicted of fraudulent bankruptcy and other crimes.
The limits of the supervision of the Archdiocese
The Court, the note continues, clarified that “the supervision of the Archdiocese was limited to the spiritual and pastoral aspects of the Foundation’s activity, not to business management”, for which the ecclesiastical body “could have had no competence”. The ruling also excluded the applicability of the art. 2049 of the civil code, highlighting how Luberto acted «for purely personal, voluptuous and selfish purposes, to which the Archbishop Monsignor Giuseppe Agostino was completely extraneous».
Recognition of legal autonomy
The judge recognized the legal autonomy of the Foundation as an “autonomous center for the attribution of legal relationships” and underlined the absence of any collusion between the Archdiocese and the administrator, rather configuring “a state of subjection or excessive trust” of the Archbishop towards Luberto.
The pastoral mission
«The decision – concludes the note from the Archdiocese – confirms the specificity of the role of ecclesiastical bodies and the need for a rigorous evaluation of the conditions of civil liability, excluding undue extensions that could compromise the autonomy and pastoral mission of these bodies. The sentence of the Court of Cosenza recognized the correctness of the actions of the Archdiocese of Cosenza Bisignano and the non-involvement in the illicit conduct carried out by the former administrator of the Foundation”.