Vatican City, 26 May 2015 (VIS) – The Ordinary Council of the Synod of Bishops today completed its two-day meeting to prepare for the 14th Ordinary General Assembly on the theme “The vocation and the mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world”, to be held from 4 to 25 October in the Vatican. The Council was chaired by the Holy Father, who met with Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri and Bishop Fabio Fabene (respectively secretary general and under-secretary of the Synod of Bishops) last week, and whose presence underlined the importance he attributes to the current Synod path.
Yesterday, 25 May, and this morning, the Council closely examined the plan for the Instrumentum laboris resulting from the Relatio Synodi of the Extraordinary Assembly, integrated with numerous contributions provided by the answers to the questions included in the Lineamenta sent by the Episcopal Conferences and other competent entities, as well as the many contributions received by the Secretariat General from various ecclesial bodies and individual faithful. An extensive and detailed study of the text has generated proposals and contributions for its integration and improvement. The text, thus revised and shared by the members of the Council, has been entrusted to the Secretariat General for its final redaction, translation in various languages and publication, which will take place in a few weeks’ time.
Following the examination of the Instrumentum laboris, proposals from the Secretariat General for updating the working method for the upcoming Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops were presented….
Vatican City, 26 May 2015 (VIS) – The Ordinary Council of the Synod of Bishops today completed its two-day meeting to prepare for the 14th Ordinary General Assembly on the theme “The vocation and the mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world”, to be held from 4 to 25 October in the Vatican. The Council was chaired by the Holy Father, who met with Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri and Bishop Fabio Fabene (respectively secretary general and under-secretary of the Synod of Bishops) last week, and whose presence underlined the importance he attributes to the current Synod path.
Yesterday, 25 May, and this morning, the Council closely examined the plan for the Instrumentum laboris resulting from the Relatio Synodi of the Extraordinary Assembly, integrated with numerous contributions provided by the answers to the questions included in the Lineamenta sent by the Episcopal Conferences and other competent entities, as well as the many contributions received by the Secretariat General from various ecclesial bodies and individual faithful. An extensive and detailed study of the text has generated proposals and contributions for its integration and improvement. The text, thus revised and shared by the members of the Council, has been entrusted to the Secretariat General for its final redaction, translation in various languages and publication, which will take place in a few weeks’ time.
Following the examination of the Instrumentum laboris, proposals from the Secretariat General for updating the working method for the upcoming Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops were presented….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a Message to the Procurator-General of the Congregation of the Oratory, Fr. Mario Alberto Avilés, C.O., to mark the fifth centenary of the birth of the founder of the “Oratorians”, St. Philip Neri. The Message was sent to coincide with the liturgical memory of St. Philip Neri on May 26 th , though the Saint’s 500 th birthday is later this year: on July 15 th .
St. Philip Neri was a priest of Rome, and a renowned pastor and confessor in his own time, who had special care for the poor children of the city, founding for them a school and later a college. H e also instituted the Visit to the Seven Churches – a pilgrimage that took people from all walks of life on long treks to visit the ancient basilicas in the Roman countryside.
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In his Message, Pope Francis writes, “Thanks also to the apostolate of St. Philip, commitment to the salvation of souls returned to be a priority for the Church; once again, the Church recovered its understanding that pastors have to be with their people to guide and support their faith.” The Pope goes on to say, “St. Philip Neri remains a luminous model of the permanent mission of the Church in the world.”
The Congregation of the Oratory, which St. Philip Neri founded, is the first example of secular priests living a communal life: The idea of the Oratory soon spread through Italy and Europe, and today, Oratories can be found in many nations throughout the world.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a Message to the Procurator-General of the Congregation of the Oratory, Fr. Mario Alberto Avilés, C.O., to mark the fifth centenary of the birth of the founder of the “Oratorians”, St. Philip Neri. The Message was sent to coincide with the liturgical memory of St. Philip Neri on May 26th,…
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(Vatican Radio) The IOR, the Institute for Works of Religion, released its Annual Report for 2014 on Monday, showing a net profit of 69.3 million Euros, a substantial increase from the 2.9 million reported in 2013.
IOR media officer Max Hehnberg told Vatican Radio that 2014 was a positive year financially, but “within the norm” for what is widely known as the Vatican bank. The net gains, the Institute said, are the result of a reorganization of the accounts and “mainly due to an increase in the Net Trading Income from securities and a decline in extraordinary operating expenses.”
“The main focus is on fundamentally improving our overall client service standards and further professionalizing our asset management services”, said Jean-Baptiste de Franssu in a statement. “Next to providing seamless and reliable payment solutions this is at the core of our plan within the new regulatory framework introduced in the Vatican and given the recently signed tax agreement between the Holy See and Italy”.
The statement said further strengthening of IOR compliance culture and resources is a priority coupled with the establishment of new internal audit and risk management functions. In particular, the systematic efforts towards implementation of anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures under supervision of Vatican regulator AIF have continued and procedures are regularly monitored and further developed where necessary.
The Vatican Bank serves some 15,000 customers who maintain 6 billion euro in assets entrusted to the IOR. From May 2013 to 31 December 2014 the IOR closed 4,614 relationships with its customers, of which 2,600 were “dormant” or inactive or small balance accounts. 554 accounts were closed which did not fit in the categories of authorized client accounts and a further 1,460 were terminated for natural attrition. Another 274 accounts are in the process of termination.
(from Vatican Radio)…