VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
John L. Allen Jr. | Oct. 11, 2013 All Things Catholic
If a Las Vegas casino had opened a betting line eight months ago on the likelihood that within a year the most popular figure on the planet would be the pope, one has to imagine the odds would have been awfully long.
Yet that’s basically today’s situation, as Francis continues to garner acclaim and admiration from almost every quarter, most recently for a moving Oct. 4 visit to Assisi and for confirming his desire to reach out to divorced and remarried Catholics by announcing a Synod of Bishops in October 2014 dedicated to the family and marriage.
The “almost” in that sentence, however, is important because while Francis remains a smash hit overall, he’s also got a budding “older son” problem.
The reference is to the parable of the prodigal son, a template many observers are now applying to Catholic reaction to the new pope. Over his first eight months, Francis basically has killed the fatted calf for the prodigal sons and daughters of the post-modern world, reaching out to gays, women, nonbelievers, and virtually every other constituency inside and outside the church that has felt alienated. …
I’ve said before that tracking the story of financial reform in the Vatican is often like watching a pingpong match. For every sign of progress, there’s usually also a reminder of the work left to be done.
So it was again this week, as the Vatican under Francis adopted a tough new anti-money-laundering law and continued to promote change at the Vatican bank at the same moment that Italian prosecutors continued to garner stories of corruption and shady practices from a former Vatican accountant.
The new law, formally “Law N. XVIII of the Vatican City State on the Matter of Transparency, Vigilance and Financial Information,” was adopted Tuesday and announced Wednesday. In essence, it establishes the Financial Information Authority, a watchdog unit created under Benedict XVI, not only as the Vatican’s financial intelligence unit with the power to flag suspect transactions, but also as its “prudential supervisor,” which means anybody who wants to conduct financial operations in the Vatican needs its approval.
The law also creates a sanctions regime for violation of anti-money-laundering protocols in an effort to bring the Vatican’s legislation in line with internationally accepted standards.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.