The Federation of Poor Clares has already assumed more than 160,000 euros of Belorado’s debts

However, reality also refutes that statement. As ABC has learned, since the conflict began on May 13, the Federation of Poor Clares in which the convents are registered has had to assume more than 160,000 euros of the debts generated by the excommunicated nuns with their disproportionate hiring structure and bad business decisions.

Thus, when a month later the pontifical commissioner assumed control of ten of his current accounts, it was already evident that the situation was one of bankruptcy: there were barely six thousand euros among all the accounts, when monthly expenses exceeded 30,000 euros. In fact, the embargoes that the former abbess reported having received “because Iceta had intervened in the accounts”, corresponded to the non-payments to the Social Security of Derio workers corresponding to April and May, when they had control of the accounts.

It has been the Federation of Poor Clares that, from the first moment, has assumed all the payments to avoid other embargoes. These are current expenses for electricity, water, gas and telephone, the payrolls of the workers who are still active (at the beginning of the schism there were 11 hired), the self-employed of the nuns and the three loans they had contracted (a mortgage in Derio, another for the installation of solar panels in Orduña, and the renovation of the kitchen and workroom in Belorado). Only In September all these expenses amounted to 21,881.67 euros. On the other hand, the only monthly income is the pensions of the elderly (5,179.44 euros) and the rent for Derio’s mansion (3,060 euros).

However, although they have shown on social networks that they continued with some of their commercial activities, the income has not gone to the accounts of the monasteries, but to those that, in their personal capacity, some of the former religious women have opened, such as the abbess. In this way, when they now reactivate their commercial work with the new company, their situation will continue to be very comfortable. On the one hand, they will receive the income from their activity, while the operating expenses (current expenses, social security and salaries, and the amortization of credits) They will continue to be ‘subsidized’ by the Poor Clares whom they disowned in May.

The new company is established as a Limited Company, which is why it has required an initial bank deposit of 3,000 euros (despite the fact that the ex-religious women claim to have no money). Its sole administrator is Susana Mateo Cruza pharmacy graduate from Madrid, known in her time as a Poor Clare as Sister Sión, and who in the first days of this crazy story was, with her broad smile, the visible face of the community on social networks.

According to the Official Bulletin of the Commercial Registry (BORME), the company was registered on December 13, although they recognize the beginning of economic operations on August 28. The corporate purpose included in the BORME He does not forget any of his activities so far: «Manufacturing, packaging, storage and sale of chocolates, artisan oven products. Prepared meals. Fruit cultivation with cheese, vine, vegetables, fruits. Puppies of dogs and cats. Exploitation of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. Rental of real estate assets. Street sales and store.

In mid-November they announced a new brand for their truffles and chocolates with a name that, like that of the company, was also a declaration of intent: R than R. But from what the corporate purpose now includes, they would also plan to resume a of the most controversial activities, which even led them to report a complaint for not complying with legal requirements, that of dog breeding.

As ABC has learned from sources close to the monastery, the objective would be “to set up a dog kennel, whether in a monastery or elsewhere, of course complying with all legal requirements.” In fact, although the Belorado city council never authorized the activity, the dogs are still within the walls of the convent and the former nuns have sought advice from “a dog breeding specialist”to legally restart this activity. The other headings would have the objective of covering the activities they were engaged in before the schism, such as renting the Derio mansion or the organic garden they had in Orduña, for which they had hired a farmer, who can no longer work because he They have taken away the keys to the place to prevent the papal commissioner from entering.

After six months in a fiscal limbo, in which they have been collecting their sales in cash and using personal accounts for commercial activity, the ex-nuns will now have the possibility of regularizing their situation. As soon as the sales are, profitability seems guaranteedgiven that they will hardly have to bear expenses, which will continue to be paid by their former Poor Clare companions who, paradoxically, have accused them of being responsible for their financial problems.