Vatican Diary / Everything We Didn't Know before and Do Now

The Chiesa
August 27, 2012

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350312?eng=y


It is the previously unpublished information contained in the report that the Holy See publishes each year about its own activities. Thefts, trials, indulgences, charity, donations. There is also the account of an invasion of porcupines. Wiped out

VATICAN CITY, August 27, 2012 – "The activity of the Holy See" is the title of a weighty volume that year after year offers the account of the actions undertaken by the pope, the Roman curia, and other Vatican offices. It is an "unofficial publication," as specified on the frontispiece, but – compiled by the secretariat of state – contains a substantial amount of information and not a few curiosities, often unpublished elsewhere.

The latest edition, concerning the activities of 2011, was published at the end of July by Libreria Editrice Vaticana. It is 1,366 pages long, and costs 80 euro.

In it we learn, for example:

– that among the activities of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith must also be included the republication in the November 30, 2011 issue of "L'Osservatore Romano" of the text by then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger published in 1998 in a volume "On the pastoral care of the divorced and remarried." This republication – it is explained – was intended to "draw the attention of pastors" to that volume, "unfortunately little known," which reiterates the traditional Catholic position on the argument and in which, among other things, it is confirmed that the practice of the Orthodox Churches of admitting under certain conditions a second and third marriage after the failure of the first remains "unacceptable for doctrinal reasons."

– that last year, the disciplinary office of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith opened 599 new procedures, 440 of them concerning "delicta graviora," and that the most numerous of these, 404 to be exact, are cases of abuse perpetrated by clergy against minors. With regard to this, the volume points out that "in the year 2011, with respect to the year 2010, the disciplinary office received fewer notifications," but that nonetheless "with respect to previous years (for example, the period of 2005–2009) the number of cases has risen considerably." Also in this area, moreover, the congregation for the doctrine of the faith submitted to the pope a request for the removal "ex officio" from the clerical state of 125 subjects, and for another 135 a request for dispensation from priestly obligations.

– that during the same period, the congregation for the clergy – for reasons other than "delicta graviora" – issued 540 certifications of dispensation from priestly obligations for 49 diocesan deacons, 26 religious deacons, 280 secular priests, and 185 religious.

– that the congregation for divine worship, in addition to its ordinary administration, declares that "it is closely following the proposal of 'thematic homilies' in conjunction with the congregation for the doctrine of the faith and the congregation for the clergy," evidently with the intention of improving the content of preaching at Masses.

– that the congregation for the evangelization of peoples granted, through the pontifical society for the propagation of the faith, more than 75 million dollars in aid to dioceses in mission territory (in 2010, this was more than 85 million). Another 30 million and more was also distributed through the pontifical society San Pietro Apostolo (this was about 33 million in 2010). And more than 19 million through the pontifical society of missionary childhood (close to 21 million in 2010).

– that the congregation for religious in 2011 authorized the entrance into consecrated life of five married persons whose spouses were still alive.

– that the congregation for Catholic education is preparing a document on the use of the internet in priestly formation.

– that in 2011, the apostolic penitentiary granted the conferral of 1,315 indulgences, and that the nation that benefited from these the most was the homeland of Martin Luther, Germany, with no fewer than 329 conferrals, followed by Italy with 260.

– that the Roman Rota, whose jurisprudence is the model for all the ecclesiastical tribunals of the world, in the judicial year of 2011 issued 179 definitive sentences concerning cases of matrimonial nullity, the majority of them (94) not in favor of but against the recognition of nullity (in 2010 the contrary happened, out of 175 definitive sentences 93 were in favor of nullity and 82 against).

– that the pontifical council Cor Unum directly distributed, in the name of the pope, 1.8 million dollars on behalf of populations struck by disaster, and 2.3 million in support of projects of human and Christian development. Moreover, the two foundations funded by the dicastery, the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel and "Populorum Progressio" for Latin America, respectively contributed 1.86 and 2.1 million to finance humanitarian projects on those continents.

– that the work of the pontifical council for legislative texts continues for the revision of some portions of the code of canon law, concerning questions of penal law, procedural law, matrimonial law, and patrimonial law, and relations between the code of the Latin Church and that of the Eastern Churches. The process for the reform of penal law turns out to be particularly advanced.

– that in 2011, 1,321 entrance permits were granted for the Vatican secret archive, to scholars from 54 countries. The most numerous were the Italians (6/73), followed by scholars from Spain and Germany (102 each), the United States and France (64 each), Britain (30), Poland (35). Scholars also came from Azerbaijan, China, Syria, Togo, Turkey. None from Israel.

– that the personnel of Vatican Radio is composed of 352 employees, 307 of them laypeople. In practice, they account for more than 12 percent of all of the personnel of the Holy See, which amounts to 2,832 employees.

– that the office of papal charities – with an internal personnel of 10 employees and 17 external calligraphers – in response to almost 7,000 letters (the same figure as 2010) of request for aid coming from "the needy, both Christians and of other religions," dispensed "with discretion" and "on a daily basis," in the name of the pope, a sum of "around 900,000 euro" (in 2010, it was "close to 1 million euro"). A sum completely covered by the contributions received for the parchments with apostolic blessings requested by the faithful: 120,000 parchments released directly by the office of papal charities (they were 115,500 in 2010) and 108,000 distributed through seventy affiliates (these were 112,000).

– that while the examination is underway by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith into the Marian apparitions of Medjugorje, through an international commission of inquiry that met four times in 2011, the pontifical academy of the Immaculate, for which "the problem of the lack of academics is becoming even more acute," received many requests from prayer groups that "born from Medjugorje, have no point of reference in order to channel the grace of conversion obtained in that blessed place."

– that as of December 31, 2011, there were 594 persons in possession of Vatican citizenship: 71 cardinals, 307 ecclesiastics with diplomatic status, 51 other ecclesiastics, one religious sister, 109 Swiss guards, 55 other laypeople. As of the same date, there were 238 persons authorized to reside in Vatican City–State while retaining their citizenship of origin, while 3,500 persons were resident in extraterritorial or tax–exempt properties.

– that during 2011, the gendarmeria levied 96 fines for violations of traffic regulations in Vatican City–State. After "thorough police activity," however, the phenomenon of pickpocketing is declared to have been "stamped out," after having been "widely diffused in the Vatican museums and especially in St. Peter's."

– that in 2011, "the Vatican museums entered the highly exclusive club of the 'over five million,'" thanks to the set of provisions "guaranteed by the delegate Msgr. Paolo Nicolini." Moreover, thanks to the license of definitive exportation granted by the Italian ministry of cultural heritage, the Vatican museums were able to acquire the Francesco Pagano collection donated by his heirs in 1998, comprising 94 objects dating to the fourth century B.C. of the Roman era. In 2011, the editorial activity of the museums was taken over by a new office of publications, with the new imprint Edizione Musei Vaticani, which is owned by the management. This initiative follows the one by which, in 2009, the Bookshop office was created in collaboration with Opera Laboratori Fiorentini SpA.

– that in 2011, Vatican City state consumed 32 million kWh of electricity, more than 4.5 million for the extraterritorial zones and 1.8 million for the pontifical villas. While the Vatican central heating required about 1,225,000 cubic meters of methane gas. Mentioned as providers are ACEA, Italgas, and the Gas & Power division of ENI.

– that at the Vatican Observatory is a collection of meteorites that in 2011 was expanded with new elements, "including a slab of 21 grams of rare and primitive acondrite NWA 6901" procured from "an anonymous German provider."

– among the lesser news and curiosities can finally be mentioned that at the end of 2011 there seems to have been a happy conclusion to the invasion of porcupines that had infested the Catacomba dei Giordani in Rome from the park of Villa Ada above it. And that "the scourge of the red weevil" also hit one of the four imposing palm trees of the portico of the papal basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls: but "with the assistance of a specialized company the battle is underway to save it from complete desiccation."

The volume on "The activity of the Holy See" does not contain any information about the APSA, IOR, or AIF (about this latter it is mentioned only that for the offices of this new agency, 170 square meters of the mezzanine of the Palazzo San Carlo within Vatican City–State have been renovated).

But to find out more about these financial branches, it is sufficient to read the exhaustive report published by Moneyval last July:

> Vatican Diary / The strange case of the new prelate of the IOR