VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 065   
   DATE 01-04-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Easter Triduum: peak of the liturgical year and of Christian life   
   - Ten years since the death of St. John Paul II   
   - Tax agreement between the Holy See and the Italian Republic   
   - Notice   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Easter Triduum: peak of the liturgical year and of Christian life   
    Vatican City, 1 April 2015 (VIS) - Pope Francis dedicated the catechesis of   
   this Wednesday's general audience to the Easter Triduum, the culmination of the   
   liturgical year, "and of our life as Christians", which begins tomorrow, Holy   
   Thursday, with the celebration of the Last Supper, in which Jesus offers His   
   Body and Blood to the Father, in the Bread and Wine, and instructs us to   
   perpetuate this offering in His memory.   
    "The Gospel of this ceremony, recalling the washing of the feet, expresses the   
   same meaning of the Eucharist from another perspective", said the Holy Father   
   to   
   the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square. "Jesus, like a servant, washes the   
   feet of Simon Peter ad the other eleven disciples. With this prophetic gesture   
   he expresses the meaning of His life and His passion, as service to God and to   
   His brothers. ... This also happens in our Baptism, when the grace of God   
   cleanses   
   us of sin and we are clothed in Christ. This happens every time we commemorate   
   the Lord in the Eucharist: we make communion with Christ the Servant to obey   
   His   
   commandment, that of loving each other as He has loved us. If we partake in   
   holy   
   Communion without being sincerely willing to wash each other's feet, we do not   
   recognise the Body of the Lord".   
    In the liturgy of Good Friday we consider the mystery of the death of Christ   
   and we worship the Cross. "In the final moments of life, before delivering his   
   spirit to the Father, Christ said, 'It is finished'. ... This means that the   
   work   
   of salvation is complete, that all the Scriptures find their fulfilment in the   
   love of Christ, the sacrificial lamb. Jesus, by His sacrifice, transformed the   
   greatest wickedness into the greatest love".   
    The Pontiff commented that throughout the centuries men and women have, by the   
   witness of their existence, "reflected a ray of this perfect, full,   
   uncontaminated love", offering the example of a heroic witness of our times,   
   the   
   Italian priest and missionary in Turkey Andrea Santoro, who shortly before   
   being   
   murdered in the church of Trebisonda on 5 February 2006, wrote: "I am here to   
   live among these people and to let Jesus do so, lending Him my flesh. ... We   
   become capable of salvation only by offering our own flesh. The evil of the   
   world must be borne and pain shared, absorbed in one's own flesh unto the end,   
   as Jesus did". "This example, and many others, sustain us in offering our own   
   life as a gift of love to our brethren, in imitation of Jesus", exclaimed the   
   Pope.   
    On Holy Saturday, "the Church contemplates Christ's 'repose' in the tomb after   
   the victorious battle of the Cross. On Holy Saturday the Church once again   
   identifies with Mary: all our faith is encompassed in her, the first and   
   perfect   
   disciple, the first and perfect believer. In the darkness that enshrouds   
   Creation, she alone keeps the flame of faith alight, hoping against all hope in   
   Jesus' Resurrection".   
    On the great Easter Vigil, "we celebrate the Risen Christ as the centre and   
   end   
   of the cosmos and of history; we stay awake to await His return, when Easter   
   will manifest itself fully. At times, the darkness of night seems to penetrate   
   the soul; at times we think, 'there is no longer anything to be done', and the   
   heart no longer finds the strength to love. ... But it is precisely in that   
   darkness that Christ lights the flame of God's love: a gleam that breaks   
   through   
   the darkness, presage of a new beginning. The stone of suffering is overturned,   
   making space for hope. This is the great mystery of Easter! On this holy night   
   the Church gives to us the light of the Resurrection, so that we no longer have   
   inside us the regret of saying 'by now...', but rather the hope of one who   
   opens   
   up to a present full of the future: Christ has defeated death, and we are with   
   Him. Our life does not end at the tombstone!".   
    "During these days of the Holy Triduum, let us limit ourselves to   
   commemorating   
   the Lord's passion, but let us instead enter into the mystery, making His   
   feelings and His attitudes our own, as the Apostle Paul tells us: 'Have this   
   mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus'. Then ours will be a   
   happy Easter".   
      
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    Ten years since the death of St. John Paul II   
    Vatican City, 1 April 2015 (VIS) - In his greetings following today's   
   catechesis, the Pope recalled that tomorrow will be the tenth anniversary of   
   the   
   death of St. John Paul II. "We remember him as a great witness to Christ in His   
   suffering, death and resurrection, and invoke his intercession for us, for the   
   family, for the Church, so that the light of resurrection may shine over all   
   the   
   shadows of our life and fill us with joy and peace".   
      
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    Tax agreement between the Holy See and the Italian Republic   
    Vatican City, 1 April 2015 (VIS) - This morning, in the Secretariat of State,   
   an agreement on fiscal matters was signed by the Holy See and the Italian   
   Republic. It was signed on behalf of the Holy See by Archbishop Paul Richard   
   Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States, and for the Italian Republic by   
   Pier Carlo Padoan, minister of Economics and Finance, with full powers.   
    The reforms introduced in 2010 and the creation by the Holy See of   
   institutions   
   with specific experience in economics and finance now enable full   
   administrative   
   cooperation, also with regard to fiscal matters. Within the framework of the   
   special importance of bilateral relations, Italy is the first country with   
   which   
   the Holy See has signed an agreement governing the exchange of information.   
    In accordance with the current process of establishing transparency in the   
   field of financial relations at a global level, the Convention transposes the   
   most up to date international standard in terms of the exchange of information   
   (article 26 of the OSCE Model) to regulate cooperation between the competent   
   authorities of the two contracting Parties. The exchange of information relates   
   to the fiscal year starting 1 January 2009.   
    The Convention, from the date on which it enters into force, will enable full   
   compliance, with simplified procedures, with the tax obligations relating to   
   financial assets held by institutions engaging in financial activities in the   
   Holy See by various physical and legal persons resident in Italy. The same   
   persons will be able to have access to a procedure for the regularisation of   
   these activities, with the same effects as established by Law 186/2014.   
    The Convention will also implement the provisions of the Lateran Treaty   
   regarding tax exemption for property belonging to the Holy See, indicated in   
   the   
   same Treaty.   
    Finally, the Convention incorporates the Exchange of notes between the   
   Ministry   
   for Foreign Affairs and the Secretariat of State in July 2007, which provides   
   for the notification of tax acts to the Holy See authorities via diplomatic   
   channels.   
      
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    Notice   
    Vatican City, 1 April 2015 (VIS) - During the Holy Week festivities, from   
   Thursday 2 to Tuesday 7 April, the Vatican Information Service bulletin will   
   not   
   be transmitted. Readers can find the texts of the Easter Triduum and Sunday of   
   the Resurrection of the Lord in the Holy See Press Office Bulletin. Service   
   will   
   resume on Wednesday 8 April.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
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   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)