Pope Issues Motu Proprio on the Prevention and Countering of Money Laundering

By Andrea Tornielli
Vatican Insider
August 8, 2013

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/francesco-francis-francisco-27057/

Pope Francis

Pope Francis has issued a new Motu Proprio which states that Vatican money-laundering laws now also apply to dicasteries of the Roman Curia. The document also gives greater supervisory powers to the Vatican Financial Information Authority

The Pope has taken yet another step to bring the Holy See’s structures in line with international money-laundering standards. Today he issued a Motu Proprio for “the prevention and countering of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” a Holy See Press Office statement said. It follows on from the action taken by Benedict XVI in this field “reaffirm[ing] the Holy See’s commitment to the goal of preventing and countering money laundering.”

The new law “broadens the application of the relevant Vatican laws to the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia and to other institutes and entities dependent on the Holy See, as well as to non-profit organizations enjoying juridical personality in canon law and based in the Vatican City State”; it “strengthens the supervisory and regulatory function of the Financial Information Authority” headed by Cardinal Attilio Nicora; it “establishes the function of prudential supervision over entities habitually engaged in financial activities, in response to a recommendation of the MONEYVAL Committee of the Council of Europe, and assigns that function to the Financial Information Authority”; finally, it “establishes the Financial Security Committee, whose Statutes are appended to the Motu Proprio, for the purpose of coordinating the competent authorities of the Holy See and the Vatican City State in the area of prevention and countering of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

The Financial Security Committee is chaired by the Assessor for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, Mgr. Brian Wells. The following will form part of the Committee: the Under-Secretary for Relations with States; the Secretary of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See; the Deputy Secretary General of the Governorate; the Promoter of Justice of the Apostolic Tribunal; the director of the Vatican Financial Information Authority (who will function as the committee’s secretary); the director of the Security and Civil Protection Services Department. According to the statute, the committee will provide regulations for risk control and management and will coordinate the adoption and regular updating of policies and procedures for the prevention and countering of money-laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of arms of mass destruction.