VATICAN CITY, 30 DEC 2010 (VIS) - Given below is the text of a note written by Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. on the Pope's Apostolic Letter "Motu Proprio data" on the prevention and countering of illegal activities in the financial and monetary sectors. Fr. Lombardi's note is entitled "Transparency , honesty and responsibility".
Today's publication of new laws for Vatican City State, for the dicasteries of the Roman Curia and for the Institutions and Entities dependent on the Holy See, is an important normative development, but also has far-reaching moral and pastoral significance.
As of today, all organisations associated with the government of the Catholic Church - and with the Church's "support": Vatican City State - have, in a spirit of sincere collaboration, become part of that system of juridical principles and instruments which the international community is creating with the aim of guaranteeing just and honest coexistence in an increasingly globalised world; a world in which, unfortunately, economy and finance is not infrequently a field for illegal activities, such as the recycling of the profits of crime and the financing of terrorism, true threats to justice and peace in the world.
Speaking plainly, the Pope affirms that the "Holy See approves such a commitment" on the part of the international community, "and intends to adopt the rules" the community uses "to prevent and combat" these terrible phenomena.
Illegal activities have always shown an extraordinary ability to infiltrate and contaminate the world of economy and finance, but their growth at the international level, and the use of new technology, have made them increasingly insidious and capable of concealment. Thus, by way of protection, it has become vital to create mutual control and information networks among the authorities charged with contrasting such activities.
It would be ingenuous to imagine that the perverse intelligence of the people who control illegal activities would not seek to exploit certain weak spots which sometimes exist in the international systems that defend and oversee legality, in order to penetrate and violate them. For this reason international solidarity is of vital importance in order to safeguard those systems, and it is right and understandable that national watchdogs and the competent international organisations (the Council of Europe and, in particular, FATF the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering) should look favourably upon the States and organisations which offer the requested guarantees, and impose greater limitations on those which fail to conform.
Naturally, this also holds true for Vatican City and for those ecclesiastical organisations which undertake economic and financial activities.
Thus the new norms respond both to the need to conserve the effectiveness of the organisations that work in the economic and financial sector at the service of the Catholic Church in the world and, – more importantly - to the moral requirement of "transparency, honesty and responsibility", which must always be observed in the social and economic field (Caritas in Veritate, 36).
The implementation of the new norms will certainly require great commitment. A new Financial Information Authority must be set up, new obligations must be respected, new functions exercised. But this cannot but be of benefit to the Church. Vatican organisations will be less vulnerable in the face of the continuous risks that inevitably arise in the handling of money. Those errors which so quickly become the cause of "scandal" for public opinion and the faithful will be avoided. In the final analysis the Church will be more "credible" before the members of the international community, and this is of vital importance for her evangelical mission. Today, 30 December 2010, the Pope has signed a document of a type a little unusual for him, but one of great courage and of great moral and spiritual significance. This is a good way to conclude the year: with a step towards transparency and credibility!
OP/ VIS 20101230 (650)
Thursday, December 30, 2010
BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR JANUARY 2011
VATICAN CITY, 30 DEC 2010 (VIS) - Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for January 2011 is: "That young people may learn to use modern means of social communication for their personal growth and to better prepare themselves to serve society".
His mission intention is: "That every believer in Christ may be conscious that unity among all Christians is a condition for more effective proclamation of the Gospel".
BXVI-PRAYER INTENTIONS/ VIS 20101230 (80)
His mission intention is: "That every believer in Christ may be conscious that unity among all Christians is a condition for more effective proclamation of the Gospel".
BXVI-PRAYER INTENTIONS/ VIS 20101230 (80)
PAPAL, HOLY SEE HIGHLIGHTS SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
VATICAN CITY, 30 DEC 2010 (VIS) - Following are highlights of the activities of Pope Benedict XVI and the Holy See for the months of September to December 2010.
SEPTEMBER
2: Holy Father receives in audience Shimon Peres, president of Israel.
3: Publication of the Holy Father's Message for the twenty-sixth World Youth Day, entitled: "Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith". World Youth Day is due to be celebrated in the Spanish capital Madrid during the month of August 2011.
5: Pastoral visit of the Holy Father to the Italian town of Carpineto Romano to mark the two hundredth anniversary of the birth there of Pope Leo XIII (Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci).
8: At the end of his general audience, the Holy Father Benedict XVI greets Jose Maria Pereira Neves, prime minister of Cape Verde.
10: Holy Father receives in audience Pal Schmitt, president of the Republic of Hungary.
10: Benedict XVI receives a group of prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Northeast region 3) at the end of their "ad limina" visit.
13: Beatification in Granada, Spain, of Servant of God Leopoldo Sanchez Marquez de Alpandeire (ne Francesco), Spanish professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins.
13: Holy Father receives Letters of Credence of Walter Jurgen Schmid, the new ambassador of Germany to the Holy See.
16-19: Apostolic trip to the United Kingdom for the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.
20: Vatican Apostolic Library reopens following three years of restoration work.
24: Presentation of Benedict XVI's Letter for the Seventh World Meeting of Families, due to be held in the Italian city of Milan from 30 May to 2 June 2012 on the theme: "The Family: Work and Rest".
29: Publication of the theme chosen by the Pope for the forty-fifth World Day of Social Communications: "Truth, proclamation and authenticity of life in the digital age". His Message for the Day will be published on 24 January 2011, feast of St. Francis of Sales, patron of journalists.
OCTOBER
3: Pastoral visit of the Holy Father to Palermo, Italy, for a regional ecclesial meeting of families and young people.
4: Benedict XVI receives a group of prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (North region 1 and Northeast region) at the end of their "ad limina" visit.
7: Holy Father receives Letters of Credence of Fernando Zegers Santa Cruz, the new ambassador of Chile to the Holy See.
8: Holy Father receives in audience Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France.
8-9: Congress in the Vatican to mark the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
9: Holy Father receives in audience Ivo Josipovic, president of the Republic of Croatia.
10: The Holy Father Benedict XVI presides at a concelebration of the Eucharist with Synod Fathers for the solemn opening of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, on the theme: "The Catholic Church in the Middle East. Communion and Witness. Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul".
15: Benedict XVI sends a Message to Jacques Diouf, director general of the United Nation's Rome-based Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), for the occasion of World Food Day.
16: Holy Father receives in audience Bronislaw Komorowski, president of the Republic of Poland.
17: In St. Peter's Square, Holy Father canonises Stanislao Soltys, called Kazimierczyk (1433-1489); Andre Bessette (ne Alfred) (1845-1937); Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola (nee Juana Josefa) (1845-1912); Mary of the Cross MacKillop (nee Mary Helen) (1842-1909); Giulia Salzano (1846-1929), and Battista da Varano (nee Camilla), (1458-1524).
18: Holy Father receives Letters of Credence of Cesar Mauricio Velasquez Ossa, the new ambassador of Colombia to the Holy See, and of Manuel Roberto Lopez Becerra, the new ambassador of El Salvador to the Holy See.
18: Publication of the "Letter to Seminarians", written by the Pope to mark the end of the Year for Priests.
21: Holy Father receives Letters of Credence of Han Hong-soon, the new ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Holy See, and of Bogadan Tataru-Cazaban, the new ambassador of Romania to the Holy See.
22: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of Luis Dositeo Latorre Tapia, the new ambassador of Ecuador to the Holy See; of Maja Marija Lovrencic Svetek, the new ambassador of Slovenia to the Holy See, and of Manuel Tomas Fernandes Pereira, the new ambassador of Portugal to the Holy See.
25: Holy Father receives in audience James Alix Michel, president of the Republic of the Seychelles.
26: Presentation of the Pope's Message for the ninety-seventh World Day of Migrants and Refugees which is due to be celebrated on 16 January 2011.
28: Benedict XVI receives a group of prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Northeast region 5) at the end of their "ad limina" visit.
NOVEMBER
6-7: Apostolic trip to the Spanish cities of Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona.
9: Message from the Pope to Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), for that institution's sixty-second general assembly, being held in Assisi, Italy.
11: Presentation of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Verbum Domini" of Benedict XVI, on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church.
16: Press conference to present the Vatican Television Centre's new high-definition outside-broadcasting equipment.
20: Third ordinary public consistory of Benedict XVI's pontificate, during which he creates twenty-four new cardinals.
22: Message from the Pope to Fr. Hermann Geissler F.S.O., director of the International Centre of Newman Friends, for a symposium organised by the group on the theme: "The Primacy of God in the Life and Writings of Blessed John Henry Newman".
22: Death at the age of 90 of Cardinal Urbano Navarrete S.J., dean of St. Pontian.
23: Press conference to present a new book entitled: "Light of the World. The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times. A conversation of Benedict XVI with Peter Seewald", published by the Vatican Publishing House.
26: Press conference to present the new "Vatican Foundation: Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI".
27: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of Hidekazu Yamaguchi, the new Japanese ambassador to the Holy See.
29: Benedict XVI receives prelates from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines at the end of their "ad limina" visit.
30: Holy Father sends a message to participants in the funeral of Manuela Campagni, one of the "Memores Domini" who serve in his Vatican apartments, who died in a traffic accident on 24 November.
DECEMBER
2: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of Gabor Gyorivanyi, the new Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See.
2: Death at the age of 80 of Cardinal Michele Giordano, archbishop emeritus of Naples, Italy.
3: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of Fernando F. Sanchez Campos, the new ambassador of Costa Rica to the Holy See.
6: Holy Father receives in audience Viktor Orban, prime minister of the Republic of Hungary.
10: Holy Father receives in audience Dalia Grybauskaite, president of the Republic of Lithuania.
12: Holy Father visits the Roman parish of St. Maximilian Kolbe, where he celebrates Mass.
16: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of five new ambassadors to the Holy See: Suresh Prasad Pradhan of Nepal; Royson Mabuku Mukwena of Zambia; Miquel Angel Canturri Montanya of Andorra, Vivianne Fock Tave of Seychelles, and Boubacar Sidiki Toure of Mali.
16: Presentation of the Holy Father's Message for the forty-fourth World Day of Peace. The Day falls on 1 January 2011 and has as its theme: "Religious Freedom. The Path to Peace".
16: Holy Father presides at Vespers in the Vatican Basilica with students of Roman universities.
17: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of Francesco Maria Greco, the new Italian ambassador to the Holy See.
18: Holy Father visits the Vatican Apostolic Library to mark its reopening following three years of restoration work.
18: Publication of the Holy Father's Message for the nineteenth World Day of the Sick which will be held, as is traditional, on 11 February, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
30: Publication of the Holy Father's "Motu Proprio" om the prevention and countering of illegal activities in the financial and monetary sectors.
.../ VIS 20101230 (1380)
SEPTEMBER
2: Holy Father receives in audience Shimon Peres, president of Israel.
3: Publication of the Holy Father's Message for the twenty-sixth World Youth Day, entitled: "Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith". World Youth Day is due to be celebrated in the Spanish capital Madrid during the month of August 2011.
5: Pastoral visit of the Holy Father to the Italian town of Carpineto Romano to mark the two hundredth anniversary of the birth there of Pope Leo XIII (Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci).
8: At the end of his general audience, the Holy Father Benedict XVI greets Jose Maria Pereira Neves, prime minister of Cape Verde.
10: Holy Father receives in audience Pal Schmitt, president of the Republic of Hungary.
10: Benedict XVI receives a group of prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Northeast region 3) at the end of their "ad limina" visit.
13: Beatification in Granada, Spain, of Servant of God Leopoldo Sanchez Marquez de Alpandeire (ne Francesco), Spanish professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins.
13: Holy Father receives Letters of Credence of Walter Jurgen Schmid, the new ambassador of Germany to the Holy See.
16-19: Apostolic trip to the United Kingdom for the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.
20: Vatican Apostolic Library reopens following three years of restoration work.
24: Presentation of Benedict XVI's Letter for the Seventh World Meeting of Families, due to be held in the Italian city of Milan from 30 May to 2 June 2012 on the theme: "The Family: Work and Rest".
29: Publication of the theme chosen by the Pope for the forty-fifth World Day of Social Communications: "Truth, proclamation and authenticity of life in the digital age". His Message for the Day will be published on 24 January 2011, feast of St. Francis of Sales, patron of journalists.
OCTOBER
3: Pastoral visit of the Holy Father to Palermo, Italy, for a regional ecclesial meeting of families and young people.
4: Benedict XVI receives a group of prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (North region 1 and Northeast region) at the end of their "ad limina" visit.
7: Holy Father receives Letters of Credence of Fernando Zegers Santa Cruz, the new ambassador of Chile to the Holy See.
8: Holy Father receives in audience Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France.
8-9: Congress in the Vatican to mark the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
9: Holy Father receives in audience Ivo Josipovic, president of the Republic of Croatia.
10: The Holy Father Benedict XVI presides at a concelebration of the Eucharist with Synod Fathers for the solemn opening of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, on the theme: "The Catholic Church in the Middle East. Communion and Witness. Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul".
15: Benedict XVI sends a Message to Jacques Diouf, director general of the United Nation's Rome-based Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), for the occasion of World Food Day.
16: Holy Father receives in audience Bronislaw Komorowski, president of the Republic of Poland.
17: In St. Peter's Square, Holy Father canonises Stanislao Soltys, called Kazimierczyk (1433-1489); Andre Bessette (ne Alfred) (1845-1937); Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola (nee Juana Josefa) (1845-1912); Mary of the Cross MacKillop (nee Mary Helen) (1842-1909); Giulia Salzano (1846-1929), and Battista da Varano (nee Camilla), (1458-1524).
18: Holy Father receives Letters of Credence of Cesar Mauricio Velasquez Ossa, the new ambassador of Colombia to the Holy See, and of Manuel Roberto Lopez Becerra, the new ambassador of El Salvador to the Holy See.
18: Publication of the "Letter to Seminarians", written by the Pope to mark the end of the Year for Priests.
21: Holy Father receives Letters of Credence of Han Hong-soon, the new ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Holy See, and of Bogadan Tataru-Cazaban, the new ambassador of Romania to the Holy See.
22: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of Luis Dositeo Latorre Tapia, the new ambassador of Ecuador to the Holy See; of Maja Marija Lovrencic Svetek, the new ambassador of Slovenia to the Holy See, and of Manuel Tomas Fernandes Pereira, the new ambassador of Portugal to the Holy See.
25: Holy Father receives in audience James Alix Michel, president of the Republic of the Seychelles.
26: Presentation of the Pope's Message for the ninety-seventh World Day of Migrants and Refugees which is due to be celebrated on 16 January 2011.
28: Benedict XVI receives a group of prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Northeast region 5) at the end of their "ad limina" visit.
NOVEMBER
6-7: Apostolic trip to the Spanish cities of Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona.
9: Message from the Pope to Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), for that institution's sixty-second general assembly, being held in Assisi, Italy.
11: Presentation of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Verbum Domini" of Benedict XVI, on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church.
16: Press conference to present the Vatican Television Centre's new high-definition outside-broadcasting equipment.
20: Third ordinary public consistory of Benedict XVI's pontificate, during which he creates twenty-four new cardinals.
22: Message from the Pope to Fr. Hermann Geissler F.S.O., director of the International Centre of Newman Friends, for a symposium organised by the group on the theme: "The Primacy of God in the Life and Writings of Blessed John Henry Newman".
22: Death at the age of 90 of Cardinal Urbano Navarrete S.J., dean of St. Pontian.
23: Press conference to present a new book entitled: "Light of the World. The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times. A conversation of Benedict XVI with Peter Seewald", published by the Vatican Publishing House.
26: Press conference to present the new "Vatican Foundation: Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI".
27: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of Hidekazu Yamaguchi, the new Japanese ambassador to the Holy See.
29: Benedict XVI receives prelates from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines at the end of their "ad limina" visit.
30: Holy Father sends a message to participants in the funeral of Manuela Campagni, one of the "Memores Domini" who serve in his Vatican apartments, who died in a traffic accident on 24 November.
DECEMBER
2: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of Gabor Gyorivanyi, the new Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See.
2: Death at the age of 80 of Cardinal Michele Giordano, archbishop emeritus of Naples, Italy.
3: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of Fernando F. Sanchez Campos, the new ambassador of Costa Rica to the Holy See.
6: Holy Father receives in audience Viktor Orban, prime minister of the Republic of Hungary.
10: Holy Father receives in audience Dalia Grybauskaite, president of the Republic of Lithuania.
12: Holy Father visits the Roman parish of St. Maximilian Kolbe, where he celebrates Mass.
16: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of five new ambassadors to the Holy See: Suresh Prasad Pradhan of Nepal; Royson Mabuku Mukwena of Zambia; Miquel Angel Canturri Montanya of Andorra, Vivianne Fock Tave of Seychelles, and Boubacar Sidiki Toure of Mali.
16: Presentation of the Holy Father's Message for the forty-fourth World Day of Peace. The Day falls on 1 January 2011 and has as its theme: "Religious Freedom. The Path to Peace".
16: Holy Father presides at Vespers in the Vatican Basilica with students of Roman universities.
17: Benedict XVI receives Letters of Credence of Francesco Maria Greco, the new Italian ambassador to the Holy See.
18: Holy Father visits the Vatican Apostolic Library to mark its reopening following three years of restoration work.
18: Publication of the Holy Father's Message for the nineteenth World Day of the Sick which will be held, as is traditional, on 11 February, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
30: Publication of the Holy Father's "Motu Proprio" om the prevention and countering of illegal activities in the financial and monetary sectors.
.../ VIS 20101230 (1380)
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
VATICAN CITY, 30 DEC 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Julian Ruiz Martorell, vicar general of the archdiocese of Zaragoza, Spain, as bishop of Huesca (area 4,728, population 85,500, Catholics 84,500, priests 97, religious 243), Spain, and of Jaca (area 5,896, population 49,425, Catholics 48,541, priests 57, permanent deacons 2, religious 79), Spain. The bishop-elect was born in Cuenca, Spain in 1957 and ordained a priest in 1981.
NER/ VIS 20101230 (80)
NER/ VIS 20101230 (80)
NOTICE
VATICAN CITY, 30 DEC 2010 (VIS) - The staff of the Vatican Information Service wishes all its readers a Happy New Year. The next VIS bulletin will be transmitted on Monday, 3 January 2011.
.../ VIS 20101230 (40)
.../ VIS 20101230 (40)
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