Cardinal Pietro Parolin Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, has thanked experts from Moneyval – the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism – for helping the Holy See in its efforts to ensure transparency and international cooperation in its financial dealings.
The cardinal welcomed the experts to the Vatican on September 30 as they began a regularly scheduled, two-week visit.
In the Vatican, he said, there is underway “a progressive implementation of systems that allow a greater control of financial flows that could be exposed to the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing”, which is why “the interventions and recommendations of the Moneyval evaluators are a resource that we treasure”.
Wealth
The Vatican is unusual among the Moneyval members since its economic activity is not “aimed at creating wealth and well-being” for a nation, the cardinal said, according to Vatican News. “The funds managed by the Holy See and Vatican City State are primarily intended for works of religion or charity.”
Moneyval’s most recent report on the Vatican, published in late 2017, praised continuing legal reforms under Pope Francis but again expressed concern that the Vatican City State court had yet to prosecute anyone for a financial crime, even if the Vatican’s own Financial Information Authority said it had flagged accounts at the Vatican bank for investigation into suspected “fraud, serious tax evasion, misappropriation and corruption”.