The Slovenian daily Dnevnik reported already at the beginning of the year that the Maribor Archdiocese had asked many dioceses around Europe to help out by buying its real estate.

The Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt said in August that the Graz-Seckau Diocese was thinking about buying a couple of buildings in Maribor city centre with the help of a yet unknown partner.

The Maribor Archdiocese is EUR 37m in debt following the financial collapse of its financial holdings, whose total debt is estimated at around EUR 800m.

The debt of the archdiocese is expected to be repaid from real estate proceeds, as the archdiocese says it has no other assets.

Graz Diocese business director Herbert Beiglböck told the Wirtschaftsblatt on Wednesday that they were hoping for a debt settlement with banks, as this would allow the archdiocese to maximise the proceeds. Negotiations among creditor banks are still ongoing.

It remains open which real estate is being considered by the Graz Diocese, the Austrian Catholic press agency Kathweb said on Wednesday.

It added, however, that Beiglböck signalled in the past that Graz could bid for the seat of the archdiocese, a small church nearby, and the Andreanum, a building that houses the Theological Faculty, several Church organisations and a few apartments for priests.

The proceeds from the properties would help the Maribor Archdiocese pay off its creditors, whose patience is slowly running out. The Slovenian branch of Raiffeisen bank has already filed a lawsuit against the archdiocese demanding the repayment of EUR 7.5m.

The money Raiffeisen wants to get back is a bank guarantee provided by the archdiocese in 2009 to Gospodarstvo rast, the company with which it controlled its financial holdings. Also suing the archdiocese is the Abanka bank, which wants back EUR 360,000.