Cardinal Peter Turkson Vatican appoints new Directors to Financial Information Authority
The Vatican’s Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, has appointed a new Director and Vice Director for the Financial Information Authority (AIF).
Giuseppe Schlitzer enters as AIF’s Director, replacing Tommaso Di Ruzza who completed his five-year mandate as of January 20 this year.
Schlitzer has held positions at Banca d’Italia, Italy’s central bank, the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, and the General Confederation of Italian Industry.
The post was first held by Francesco De Pasquale (2011-2013) and René Brülhart (2013-2014).
Federico Antellini Russo has been appointed to the position of Vice Director. He has been preceded by Alfredo Pallini (2011-2012) and Tommaso Di Ruzza (2014-15).
Russo has worked at the AIF since 2015. He served as an economist in the research and development section of the joint-stock company Consip from 2008 to 2013.
Pope Benedict XVI established AIF in 2010. It oversees the financial intelligence unit and seeks to prevent and counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Pope Francis further consolidated this Vatican entity in 2013. It is a member of the Egmont Group, a network of finance intelligence units at the global level.
Vatican sets up pandemic task force
The Holy See has established a task force to mobilise the Church’s response to Covid-19 and deal with the aftermath of the pandemic.
Cardinal Peter Turkson says he has already established a central ‘command centre’ and five working groups, after Pope Francis asked his department to lead the Church’s response to the coronavirus.
“We must act now. And we must immediately think about what will happen next,” said the 71-year-old Ghanian prelate.
“The Pope is convinced that we are living through an epochal change, and he is reflecting on what will follow the crisis.
“We must offer our contribution in this crisis,” he added.
“It is a matter of putting actions in place to support the local churches, to save lives, to help the poorest.”
The Vatican says the commission will report directly to the Pope while the body has already met him twice to discuss plans.
Pope Francis has given the dicastery a two-fold task of coordinating the Church’s immediate response to the crisis and looking to what happens next.
Caritas launches fund for local Churches
Caritas Internationalis has set up a new ‘Covid-19 Response Fund’ to help support the efforts of local Churches as they assist those suffering the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Church’s human development arm released a communiqué last week, which announced a new fundraising initiative called the ‘Covid-19 Response Fund’.
“Pope Francis is very much preoccupied with Covid-19,” said Aloysius John, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, “and he wants the Church to express solidarity with the local Churches and help them at this moment as a gesture of witnessing the universal love and care of the universal Church for the local Church.
“The coronavirus solidarity fund is a means to assist small projects which will allow Caritas to help the people who are confined.”
One such project is Caritas Philippines’ ‘Kindness Centres’, where people can bring their excess food supplies and have them distributed to local families in need.
Anyone wishing to make a contribution to the Fund can do so through Caritas’ website (caritas.org).