Day 11 in Burgos--Pay to Pray!?

This is my mental health day in Burgos, a charming city with wonderful Gothic churches and monuments. Everything about me is in great shape except for my poor feet. Some of the major cathedrals in Spain (here in Burgos and Pamplona and Santo Domingo) have a custom that one must pay money to enter the church (as if it were a museum). Even for mass, for example, one might only go in by a side door to a side chapel and not have access to the main church. Of course I understand what they are doing---there are countless tourists, many passing through without showing any reverence, and the upkeep for these big old churches is very expensive. BUT, if you ask one Catholic pilgrim, it´s a terrible, terrible thing to do, and exactly the opposite of what followers of Jesus stand for at our best: please come, you are most welcome!....I remember a story about St. Robert Bellarmine, the first Jesuit to be named a Cardinal, around the time of Galileo. The story goes--some Jesuit blog reader can correct me if I´m mis-remembering, that beggars used to come to the Cardinal´s palace and he used to give them what was there, and over time folks who were not at all needy just started showing up and taking advantage of his generosity. Someone told him he had to wise up, that people were ripping him off, and he replied saying that he would rather be ripped off numerous times rather than run the risk of failing to help someone who was truly needy. Yes, Brother Bellarmine! There was no charge to enter his church, I´m sure...Better to put up with dozens of wandering tourist types rather than risk turning away one person who might find peace and-or be found by God in the churhc