The Pope also sent two tweets on Sunday: 1. “What happens in Baptism? We become united forever with Jesus, to be born again to a new life.” 2. “In this Year of Faith, may every Christian rediscover the beauty of being reborn in the love of God and living as his true children.”

I’m sure you heard or read the news over the holidays that, for a period, the Vatican will not be accepting credit cards for purchases made in Vatican stores, the Museums, etc. It will be cash only sales until further notice. The order to the Vatican to suspend acceptance of credit cards came from the Bank of Italy that blocked all the credit card services of Deutsche Bank in the Vatican.

Below you will find the English translation of an interview given on this matter to Italy’s “Corriere della Sera” by Rene Bruelhart, since September 2012 the Director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF) and posted on Vatican radio’s website. As you know I have been following and writing about the IOR (Vatican Bank)-MONEYVAL situation for over two years.

POPE BAPTIZES 20 BABIES: “IN BAPTISM WE ARE UNITED FOR ALL TIME WITH JESUS”

Sunday, the feast of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, in the solemnity and splendor of the Sistine Chapel, Pope Benedict baptized 20 babies, all children of Vatican employees as has been his habit in recent years. The newest members of the Church include 11 girls and 9 boys, including twin boys.

The Pope celebrated Mass at the chapel’s celebrated altar and baptized the children in a font first used a year ago, created by the architect Alberto Cicerone with the advice of theologian Salvatore Vitiello. The duo also created the silver and paschal candle-holder used this past Easter. Among those who assisted the Holy Father during the multiple baptisms were his personal secretary and prefect of the papal household, newly-ordained Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, Alfred Xuereb, a papal secretary, the pope’s doctor Patrizio Polisca and Msgr. Guido Marini, master of liturgical ceremonies.

He spoke of Jesus’ baptism, asking, "Was Jesus in need of penitence and conversion? Certainly not. And yet … he wanted to place himself alongside the sinners …expressing God's nearness. … He demonstrates solidarity with us, with the weariness we feel in trying to convert, trying to leave aside our selfishness, trying to tear ourselves away from our sins, in order to tell us that, if we accept Him in our lives, He is capable of lifting us back up and leading us to the height of God the Father. … Jesus truly immersed himself in our human condition …and is capable of understanding our weakness and fragility. This is why He is moved to compassion. He chooses to suffer with human beings, to be penitent along with us. This is God's plan that Jesus wants to accomplish: the divine mission of healing the wounded and tending the sick, of taking upon himself the sin of the world."

The Holy Father said that, through Baptism, the children baptised today "will be united profoundly and for all time with Jesus, immersed in the mystery of His power …in the mystery of his death, which is the source of life, in order to participate in His resurrection, to be reborn to new life … The heavens have also opened over your children and God says: these are my children with whom I am well pleased.”

Benedict XVI asked the parents to show their "faith, the joy of being Christians and of belonging to the Church. It is a joy that springs from the awareness of having received a great gift from God: faith, a gift that none of us could have merited but which has been freely given to us and to which we have responded with our 'yes'.”

He reminded the godparents of their "important duty of sustaining and helping the parents in their task of educating. …May you always know how to set a good example for them through exercising the Christian virtues. It is not easy to openly and uncompromisingly express that which you believe in, especially in the climate we are living in, faced with a society that often considers those who live their faith in Jesus as old-fashioned and out of date.”

VATICAN SURPRISED AT BANK MOVE BLOCKING CREDIT CARDS

Vatican Radio published an English translation of an interview Sunday in the Italian daily Corriere della sera with Rene Bruelhart, director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF), who spoke about the recent moves by the Bank of Italy to block POS (Point of Sales) in Vatican City State.

Here is the full text of that article:

RB: “I’m surprised by the measures taken by the Bank of Italy blocking all the credit card services of Deutsche Bank in the Vatican. In July, the Holy See passed the third round evaluation of the Moneyval Committee of the Council of Europe with a ‘good’ report card, passing 9 of 16 ‘core and key’ recommendations. So the Vatican was not subject to any special measures for monitoring money laundering, neither by Moneyval nor by any other international body. We don’t have problems with other European countries. On the contrary, we have close collaboration. No other country in the world has adopted similar measures. I repeat, therefore, that I’m truly surprised.”

Rene Bruelhart, a 40-year old from Switzerland, and one of the top experts in the world in anti-money laundering, since November the director of AIF (Financial Information Authority) for the Holy See, responds to an official note which appeared prominently last Thursday on the website of the Bank of Italy under the headline “Information and Explanations,” in which the motives for blocking the POS (Point of Sales) are given. The note, citing the Moneyval report, maintains that “the presence of an effective anti-money-laundering regime had still not been proved.”

CdS: “The year 2012 was one of verifying and adjusting the Vatican legislation to international and European Community norms, in terms of money laundering and financing terrorism,” the Adjunct Promoter of Justice Pierfrancesco Grossi said during the opening of the judicial year in the Vatican, in front of the Minister of Justice, Paola Severino and the First President of the Court of Cassation, Ernesto Lupo. Is that true?

RB: Absolutely. The result of the evaluation – carried out in the course of about a year – that is, the Report on Vatican City, was put before the Plenary Assembly of Moneyval on July 4, which approved it in all of its parts, deeming the process in adjusting to international standards satisfactory and credible: the Holy See was not subjected to any special monitoring measure, neither by Moneyval nor by any other international body. A jurisdiction is subject to a “special” monitoring measure when it fails to pass 10 or more of the essential recommendations, known as “core and key” recommendations. On this basis, with the Holy See having passed 9 of the “core and key” recommendations, Moneyval affirmed that the Holy See has a system of preventing and fighting money laundering and the financing of terrorism, equivalent to and recognized at the international level.

CdS: Why doesn’t this seem sufficient for the Bank of Italy?

RB: Maybe I’m not the person to whom you should ask that question. I would ask the Bank of Italy. What I can say is that the Holy See has implemented the “Third EU Directive” relating to anti-money-laundering and terrorist financing in the same way as all other member states of the European Union. I also point out that, for the Moneyval evaluators, in some cases the Holy See adopted a superior and more severe standard than the one requested by the directive.

CdS: Do you have problems with other European countries?

RB: There aren’t problems; on the contrary, there’s close collaboration with European countries. In this context I’d like to mention that in 2012 AIF entered into Memoranda of Understanding with two European countries (editor’s note: Belgium and Spain) for the international exchange of information and has begun negotiations with more than 20 countries. We’ve also started the process of entering the “Egmont Group” (the international network for the exchange of confidential financial information) in which more than 130 countries participate, precisely with the goal of further developing that work, and strengthening international cooperation. AIF also has close collaboration with similar Authorities in various countries in the European Union. So I’m truly surprised by the measures taken by the Bank of Italy. No other country in the world has adopted similar measures.

CdS. Away from Europe, for example, what are your relations like with the United States and with the financial authorities there?

RB. Excellent. I can confirm that AIF has started close and direct relations with the competent authorities in the United States.

CdS: The Bank of Italy claims the credit card services were blocked in relation to anti-money-laundering norms, but that this is not the only problem. They say the simplified controls with “equivalent” countries can take place “only under the condition that the non-EU country has adequate banking regulations systems of vigilance that allow for exchange of information between the respective authorities.” How do you respond?

RB: At the present time in the Vatican City State there is a relevant financial institution, that is, the IOR, a public and not a private or banking institution. So it doesn’t seem right to talk about a “banking sector,” because that’s not what it is. The reality is that, considering the particular nature of the Vatican City State, adequate measures have been adopted for vigilance, prevention, and fighting money laundering and financing terrorism. AIF also has the task of a supervisory Authority and is fully committed in international cooperation also in this area, including the exchange of information with other states, among them those in Europe. For its part, the Holy See is committed to adopting further measures in the coming months, because as you know, fighting money laundering is always a “work in progress.” M. Antonietta Calabrò

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