Vatican City, 16 December 2015 (VIS) – The report of the Moneyval Committee, dated 8 December, confirms that during the last two years the Holy See and Vatican City State have achieved significant progress in the construction of an adequate and functioning institutional and regulatory framework for preventing and combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism (c.f., in particular, paragraphs 18-19: Vatican tribunals have frozen 11.2 million Euros as a result of the current investigations). With regard to the Office of the Promoter of Justice, the investigations are complex from a technical point of view, and require careful analysis. They have a strong international or transnational dimension, involving offences committed outside Vatican territory and persons from outside the Vatican (c.f. Paragraph 18). The Holy See has established an international network that enables it to collaborate actively with other States in these cases, at the levels of both the AIF and the tribunals. The information and statistics contained in the Report demonstrate this clearly. The Vatican Tribunal requested and received reciprocal legal assistance (letters rogatory) from other States. The Report confirms that mutual legal assistance is widely used (paragraph 79). The Holy See welcomes the Moneyval Committee’s invitation to strengthen further the capacity of its Tribunals and Gendarmerie to conduct more incisive investigations in criminal matters, and to punish the crimes of money laundering and the financing of terrorism committed within the sphere of the Holy See and Vatican City State. …
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his weekly General Audience on Wednsday. In his catechetical remarks to the faithful, the Holy Father focused on the signs of the recently-opened Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, saying that by practicing charity, mercy and forgiveness, we can be a sign of the power of God’s love to transform hearts and to bring reconciliation and peace.
Below, please find the official English summary of the Holy Father’s reflection
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Dear Brothers and Sisters: The Jubilee of Mercy was inaugurated this past week by the opening of the Holy Door, not only here in Rome but in dioceses worldwide, as a visible expression of our communion in the universal Church. Fifty years ago, the Second Vatican Council reminded us that the Church is called to be, in Christ, the visible sign of God’s merciful love for the entire human family. Each of us, by practicing charity, mercy and forgiveness, can be a sign of the power of God’s love to transform hearts and to bring reconciliation and peace. By passing through the Door of Mercy during this Holy Year, we show our desire to enter more deeply into the mystery of Christ’s redemptive love. Jesus tells us that he himself is the door to eternal life (cf. Jn 10:9), and he asks us, through genuine conversion, to open the doors of our hearts to a more sincere love of God and neighbour. A special sign of grace in this Jubilee of Mercy is the sacrament of Penance, in which Christ invites us to acknowledge our sinfulness, to experience his mercy, and to receive the grace which can make us ever more effective signs of his reconciling love at work in our world.
(from Vatican Radio)…