VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In an effort to comply more fully with international standards against financial criminal activity, the Vatican has hired an outside expert in combating money laundering and financing terrorism.

Rene Brulhart, a 40-year-old Swiss international lawyer, started working as a consultant to the Vatican in September on “all matters related to anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism,” Vatican Radio reported Sept. 11.

Brulhart’s “role is to assist the Holy See in strengthening its framework to fight financial crimes,” the broadcast reported.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said in a written statement that the hire is “a powerful sign of (the Vatican’s) commitment to work in this direction.”

A report by European finance experts released in July said the Vatican had passed its first major test in becoming more financially transparent and compliant with international norms.

by Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – With a hymn and a prayer, Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella presented the Vatican’s initial calendar of events for the Year of Faith, which begins with a Mass Oct. 11 in St. Peter’s Square.

Archbishop Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, said the pope has invited as concelebrants bishops and theologians who, like the pontiff, served as members or experts at the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council.

The archbishop said he hoped about 35 “council fathers” would be able to join the presidents of national bishops’ conferences and bishops participating in the world Synod of Bishops in concelebrating the opening Mass.

This is the English version of the 2012-2013 Year of Faith logo. The logo features a boat, which is a traditional symbol for the church. Its main mast is the cross and, with the sails, it forms the initials IHS, the “Christogram” standing for Jesus, savior of men. Behind the IHS, the sun evokes a eucharistic host.

During a news conference at the Vatican, Archbishop Fisichella unveiled the sheet music for the official hymn for the Year of Faith, Credo, Domine, Adauge Nobis Fidem (I Believe, Lord, Increase Our Faith).

“I’ll spare you my musical interpretation,” he told reporters, smiling.

He also distributed copies of the official Year of Faith logo and prayer card, which features a mosaic image of Christ from the cathedral in Cefalu, Italy. The Nicene Creed is printed on the back of the cards, with the idea that the profession of faith would become “a daily prayer, learned by heart, as it was in the first centuries of Christianity,” the archbishop said.

Archbishop Fisichella also announced that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments had just approved prayer texts in Latin and Italian for a special “Mass for New Evangelization.” The archbishop’s office is translating the Latin text into English, Spanish and other languages and hopes to have the congregation’s approval of the translations by the time the Year of Faith opens, he said.

Pope Benedict called the Year of Faith to strengthen Catholics who go to church, reach out to those who have left but still yearn for God in their lives, offer a response to those who are searching for meaning and help those who think they do not need God, he said.

“We are not hiding the fact that there is a crisis of faith, but it is only when one becomes completely aware of a crisis that one can find ways to remedy it,” the archbishop said.

He said the pope decided it was right to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church with a year dedicated to encouraging Catholics to study, profess and demonstrate their faith.

The Vatican launched a website – www.annusfidei.va – containing information about the Year of Faith and the calendar of special events Pope Benedict will celebrate during the year.

Many of the pope’s traditional appointments, like the Jan. 25 celebration marking the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the Feb. 2 prayer with religious, will be incorporated into the Year of Faith.

But other events have been added, including a celebration April 28 during which the pope will confirm a group of young people and meet with others who recently have been or are about to be confirmed in their home countries.

On June 2, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ in most countries, the pope will lead the solemn adoration of the Eucharist and is asking every cathedral and parish to have an hour of silent contemplation before the Blessed Sacrament at exactly the same hour, Archbishop Fisichella said.

Two weeks later, June 16, Pope Benedict will preside over a celebration of the church’s witness to the dignity and value of every human life, the archbishop said.

And July 7, he will meet with seminarians and religious-order novices, who will make a pilgrimage to Rome to demonstrate “the joy of their decision to follow the Lord in serving His church.”

The cultural events planned, the archbishop said, include a “huge concert” in St. Peter’s Square June 22. Archbishop Fisichella was not ready to reveal the conductor’s name, but he promised it was someone well-known. And, he said, the concert is likely to involve at least two orchestras and three choirs.

The Year of Faith is scheduled to conclude Nov. 24, 2013.

by Carol Zimmerman

WASHINGTON (CNS) – The national board of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) June 1 said it feels the assessment that led to a Vatican order to reform the organization “was based on unsubstantiated accusations and the result of a flawed process that lacked transparency.”

The LCWR board called the sanctions “disproportionate to the concerns raised” and said they “could compromise” the organization’s ability “to fulfill their mission.”

“The report has furthermore caused scandal and pain throughout the church community and created greater polarization,” the LCWR said in a statement released the morning after the board concluded a special meeting in Washington, May 29-31, held to respond to an eight-page doctrinal assessment issued to LCWR by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Citing “serious doctrinal problems which affect many in consecrated life,” the doctrinal congregation April 18 announced a major reform of LCWR to ensure its fidelity to Catholic teaching in areas including abortion, euthanasia, women’s ordination and homosexuality.

In response to the LCWR statement, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, appointed by the Vatican to oversee the reform, said both he and the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “are wholeheartedly committed to dealing with the important issues raised by the doctrinal assessment and the LCWR board in an atmosphere of openness, honesty, integrity and fidelity to the church’s faith.”

The LCWR board said the organization’s president, Franciscan Sister Pat Farrell, and its executive director, Sister Janet Mock, a Sister of St. Joseph, will return to Rome June 12 to meet U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Archbishop Sartain “to raise and discuss the board’s concerns.”

In an interview with Catholic News Service, Sister Pat did not discuss specifics of the board’s reaction to the Vatican’s assessment, saying it was “a conversation we want to have first with the Vatican.”

She said that when she and Sister Janet go to Rome they will continue the conversation they had when the eight-page document was first released to them, presenting their views after “prayerful reflection.”

Sister Pat said the LCWR leadership had not given interviews about the document since its release more than a month ago because they did “not want to react in the moment.”

“It was important not to respond immediately,” she said, “so that whatever we would say would come from our best selves.”
She also noted that the LCWR leadership “couldn’t respond with any substance individually” because the group is a collaborative organization that speaks with one voice.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In 2011, for the first time, the number of visitors to the Vatican Museums topped five million.
Antonio Paolucci, director of the museums, said breaking the five-million threshold poses serious problems as well as challenges in the areas of access and education.

“Five million visitors means 10 million hands that touch or can touch and 10 million feet that, day after day, wear out the multicolored stone (floors) and the most famous archaeological mosaics in the world,” he said.

Writing in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, Paolucci said the total number of visitors in 2011 was just under 5.1 million. In 2010, the museums reported having almost 4.7 million people enter its doors.

The museums expanded their opening hours in 2011 and added more of the special Friday night openings they experimented with briefly in 2009. The standard price of admission to the museums is 15 euros, or about $19.

With the growing number of visitors, Paolucci said, security is a growing concern and not just to ensure that people keep their hands off the art. The sheer number of visitors means there will be “an unknown, but certainly significant, percentage” of people with serious problems, who could pose a danger to themselves or others.
When dealing with such a massive number of people, even the best behaved cause damage because “they bring with themselves humidity and dust” which have a negative impact on the frescoes, stucco and mosaic tiles in the floors.

Paolucci said the 2011 record moves the Vatican Museums into the category of the largest and most visited museums in the world: the Louvre in Paris, which attracts more than eight million visitors each year; the British Museum in London, which had an estimated 5.8 million visitors last year; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which reported more than 5.6 million visitors in 2011.

A member of Rome’s Biopark zoo shows Pope Benedict XVI a rare young Cuban crocodile during the pope’s weekly audience in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican Jan. 11. The crocodile is set to be introduced to its natural habitat in Cuba during the pope’s trip in March.

by Carol Glatz,

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In an effort to help Catholics have a better and correct understanding of their faith and become authentic witnesses to Christ, the Vatican issued a list of pastoral recommendations for celebrating the upcoming Year of Faith.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a “note” Jan. 7 outlining the aims of the special year and ways bishops, dioceses, parishes and communities can promote “the truth of the faith,” the congregation said.

It also announced that within the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, a secretariat would be set up to suggest and coordinate different initiatives. The new department will be responsible for launching a special website for sharing useful information on the Year of Faith.

Pope Benedict XVI wanted the Year of Faith, which runs from Oct. 11, 2012, to Nov. 24, 2013, to help the church focus its attention on “Jesus Christ and the beauty of having faith in him,” it said.

“The Church is well aware of the problems facing the faith” and recognizes that without a revitalization of faith rooted in a personal encounter with Jesus, “then all other reforms will remain ineffective,” it said citing the pope’s Dec. 22 address to the Roman Curia.

The year is meant to “contribute to a renewed conversion to the Lord Jesus and to the rediscovery of faith, so that the members of the church will be credible and joy-filled witnesses to the risen Lord, capable of leading those many people who are seeking it to the door of faith,” the note said.

Critical to renewing one’s faith and being a credible witness is having a firm and correct understanding of church teaching, it said.

Auspicious Occasion
Because the year’s start, Oct. 11, coincides with the anniversaries of the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962 and the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1992, it would be an auspicious occasion to make the work of the council and the catechism “more widely and deeply known,” it said.

The congregation said the pope “has worked decisively for a correct understanding of the council, rejecting as erroneous the so-called ‘hermeneutics of discontinuity and rupture’ and promoting what he himself has termed the ‘hermeneutic of reform,’ of renewal in continuity” with the church and tradition.

The catechism “is an integral part of that ‘renewal in continuity’” by embracing the old and traditional while expressing it “in a new way, in order to respond to the questions of our times,” it said.
The note offers pastoral recommendations aimed at aiding “both the encounter with Christ through authentic witnesses to faith, and the ever-greater understanding of its contents,” it said.

Among the initiatives will be various ecumenical events at the Vatican aimed at restoring unity among all Christians, including “a solemn ecumenical celebration in which all of the baptized will reaffirm their faith in Christ,” it said. There will be special Masses at the Vatican to mark the opening and closing of the Year of Faith, it added.

Some recommendations for bishops, dioceses and parishes include ensuring there be better quality catechetical materials that conform to church teaching; promoting Catholic principles and the significance of Vatican II in the mass media; hosting events that bring artists, academics and others together to renew dialogue between faith and reason; offering penitential celebrations; and putting a focus on liturgy, especially the Eucharist, it said.

It also called for Vatican II documents, the catechism and its Compendium to be republished in more affordable editions and to distribute the texts digitally and via other “modern technologies.”
The congregation said it wanted to promote the recommendations because the office’s “specific functions include not only safeguarding sound doctrine and correcting errors but also, and foremost, promoting the truth of the faith.”

The congregation’s note, drafted on the orders of Pope Benedict, was written in consultation with other Vatican offices and with the help of the Year of Faith preparatory committee.
The committee, which operates under the auspices of the doctrinal congregation, includes U.S. Cardinals William J. Levada, congregation prefect; Francis E. George of Chicago; and Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

by Carol Zimmermann

WASHINGTON (CNS) – U.S. Catholics have mixed feelings about the Vatican’s ideas on how to fix today’s troubled global economy.

The proposals, outlined in a document released Oct. 24, include overhauling the world’s financial systems, establishing a global authority to manage the economy and creating a “world reserve fund” to support poor countries.

Catholic reaction to the document was immediate, with critics and supporters of the ideas issuing statements soon after the document was released in several languages including 18 pages of a provisional translation in English.

The text, “Toward Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority,” was prepared by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The document doesn’t entirely break new ground, because much of it reiterates the development of Catholic thought on economic disparity and the need to work for the common good. It highlights encyclicals from Pope John XXIII’s 1963 “Pacem in Terris” (“Peace on Earth”) to Pope Benedict’s 2009 “Caritas in Veritate” (“Charity in Truth”).

Almost 50 years ago, Pope John XXIII spoke of the need to develop some type of universal financial authority to address the growing inequality between the world’s rich and poor. And just two years ago, Pope Benedict called for a rethinking of economics guided not simply by profits but by “an ethics which is people-centered.”

Those who disliked the new document and some of the attention it received were quick to point out that it was not officially signed by Pope Benedict and therefore didn’t have the weight of an encyclical.

Others saw it as a direct link to the current frustration about the economy and speculated that it could be a manifesto of sorts for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Voices in between acknowledge that the document is consistent with Catholic social teaching. They also note that even though it raises some of the similar themes of the current protesters — especially the negative impact of excessive greed – it is hardly jumping on the protestors’ bandwagon.

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, said the document would “resonate well with those in that movement” but wasn’t meant to coincide with the protests, which began Sept. 7.

In an Oct. 25 interview on “Currents,” the daily cable TV news show of the Diocese of Brooklyn, he said the Vatican’s document “is part of an unfolding discussion that has existed in the church going back to Pope John XXIII.”  He also noted that the document was likely “in print and ready to be published long before the Wall Street movement began.”

John Sniegocki, associate professor of Christian ethics at Xavier University in Cincinnati, told Catholic News Service in an Oct. 27 e-mail that he saw the link between the protesters and the document, not because the protesters “are necessarily knowledgeable about Catholic social teaching – though some certainly are – or that the Vatican has been directly influenced by the Occupy movement, but rather that both take an honest look at the realities of the world and express deep concern at the inequalities and injustices that they see.”

Similarly, Steve Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington, said in a statement that the Vatican document “resonates poignantly within our world’s current atmosphere of frustration and despair over out-of-control economic forces.”

As he sees it, the council’s document does not simply lament “the moral failing behind the current economic crisis” but instead “charts what might be called a Catholic way forward from the present morass.”

And this move forward, according to the document, should be one that links the Catholic social principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. In other words, it should serve the interests of humanity and the common good but only intervening when local and national efforts have failed.

The wording in the document points to the enormity of this task saying: “A long road still needs to be traveled before arriving at the creation of a public authority with universal jurisdiction.”

An editorial in the Nov. 6 issue of Our Sunday Visitor notes that “for those Catholics willing to consider this document prayerfully, they will understand that its primary assumption is that every individual and every community shares in and is responsible for promoting the common good.”