A private, nonprofit group's bid to keep the historic Chancery Office in the hands of the local Catholic Church has come up short.

The property now goes on the open market, for sale to the highest bidder.

The chancery was put up for sale as part of the archdiocese's bankruptcy settlement in the clergy sex abuse case.

It's been the traditional residence and office for the archbishop of Guam but more importantly, it was where then Pope John Paul II, now Saint John Paul, stayed during his historic visit to Guam in February 1981.

The Phoenix Foundation was trying to raise $2.8 million to buy the property says foundation member and longtime local realtor Chris Felix.

"We put together this group to buy it in order to save the chancery, in order to allow the church to continue using it, and by putting it under our name it would avoid any future lawsuit against the church, the church from losing it ever again," he said.

They got a loan for about half the amount and raised another $500,000 in donations.

But with the extended deadline looming on Oct. 17, they're about $300,000 short.

Still, the foundation is grateful to the hundreds that donated.

"It was just amazing," Felix said. "So we were getting from $50 up to $100,000 donations, and unfortunately it just didn't add up. You know it's the sign of the times and people are hurting and they gotta take care of themselves and their families first."

The chancery property will go back on the open market per the bankruptcy order.

Felix doesn't think another extension is viable and doesn't foresee any white-knight investor stepping in at the last minute.

"I got some calls last night and a few emails with ideas, I really don't think so," he said. "The church, I think the chancery has moved on and accepted that they're going to have to move. And there is interested buyers. So we have to kinda step aside and I kinda get the feeling that the church needs some of those funds and it may be for the church's best interest that we step aside."

In a statement, Archdiocese Apostolic Administrator Father Romeo Convocar said, "We are extremely heartbroken, especially because the chancery and archbishop's home have immense spiritual, cultural and historic significance not only to our church but to the entire island because of Saint John Paul the great's unprecedented visit."

He continued, "We find great consolation in the strong devotion and unselfishness that we saw emerge from members of our catholic community in the form of the Phoenix Foundation and the many individuals and groups who stepped forward to contribute to the cause."