VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXV - # 225   
   DATE 16-12-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - General audience: the signs of the Jubilee   
   - Note from the Holy See Press Office on the Moneyval Committee Report   
   - In memoriam   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    General audience: the signs of the Jubilee   
    Vatican City, 16 December 2015 (VIS) - In the general audience today the Holy   
   Father recalled last Sunday's opening the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. John   
   Lateran and of all cathedrals throughout the world. "I wanted this sign of the   
   Holy Door to be present in every particular Church", he said, "so that the   
   Jubilee of Mercy may become an experience that everyone can share. In this way,   
   the Holy Year has given life to the Church as a whole; it is celebrated in   
   every   
   diocese as in Rome, and Rome is a visible sign of universal communion. Pope   
   Francis expressed his hope that this ecclesial communion be "increasingly   
   intense, so that the Church may be a living sign of the Father's love and   
   mercy".   
    However, he commented that "love and forgiveness must not remain simply   
   beautiful words, but rather should become the reality of our daily life. Loving   
   and forgiving are the visible and concrete signs that faith has transformed our   
   hearts and this enables us to express the very life of God in ourselves. Loving   
   and forgiving as God loves and forgives. This is a plan for life that does not   
   admit interruptions or exceptions, but rather drives us always to go further   
   ahead without tiring, with the certainty of being supported by God's paternal   
   presence".   
    He explained that "this great sign of Christian life then transforms into many   
   other signs that are typical of the Jubilee", and reiterated that salvation   
   cannot be bought as it is free, urging the faithful not to fall prey to   
   deceptions. "Crossing the Holy Door is a sign of our trust in the Lord Jesus   
   Who   
   came not to judge but to save us", he continued. "It is the sign of a true   
   conversion of our heart. When we cross this door it is good to remember that we   
   must also keep open the door of our heart. The Holy Year cannot be effective if   
   the door of our heart does not allow Christ to pass, Who drives us to go   
   towards   
   others, leading them to Him and to His love. Therefore, just as the Holy Door   
   remains open, as a sign of the welcome God reserves for us, our door too must   
   always remain open so as to exclude no-one".   
    The Pope also remarked that confession is an important sign of the Jubilee.   
   "Receiving the sacrament with which we are reconciled with God means directly   
   experiencing His mercy. ... But, how can we ask God to forgive us if we   
   ourselves   
   are not capable of forgiveness? Certainly, forgiving is not easy, as our heart   
   is poor and with its own strength alone it cannot manage this. However, if we   
   open ourselves up to welcome God's mercy for us, in turn we become capable of   
   forgiving". The Holy Father concluded by encouraging all those present to live   
   the Jubilee starting with these signs that involve the great strength of love".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Note from the Holy See Press Office on the Moneyval Committee Report   
    Vatican City, 16 December 2015 (VIS) - The report of the Moneyval Committee,   
   dated 8 December, confirms that during the last two years the Holy See and   
   Vatican City State have achieved significant progress in the construction of an   
   adequate and functioning institutional and regulatory framework for preventing   
   and combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism (c.f., in   
   particular, paragraphs 18-19: Vatican tribunals have frozen 11.2 million Euros   
   as a result of the current investigations).   
    With regard to the Office of the Promoter of Justice, the investigations are   
   complex from a technical point of view, and require careful analysis. They have   
   a strong international or transnational dimension, involving offences committed   
   outside Vatican territory and persons from outside the Vatican (c.f. Paragraph   
   18).   
    The Holy See has established an international network that enables it to   
   collaborate actively with other States in these cases, at the levels of both   
   the   
   AIF and the tribunals. The information and statistics contained in the Report   
   demonstrate this clearly. The Vatican Tribunal requested and received   
   reciprocal   
   legal assistance (letters rogatory) from other States. The Report confirms that   
   mutual legal assistance is widely used (paragraph 79).   
    The Holy See welcomes the Moneyval Committee's invitation to strengthen   
   further   
   the capacity of its Tribunals and Gendarmerie to conduct more incisive   
   investigations in criminal matters, and to punish the crimes of money   
   laundering   
   and the financing of terrorism committed within the sphere of the Holy See and   
   Vatican City State.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    In memoriam   
    Vatican City, 16 December 2015 (VIS) - The following prelates have died in   
   recent weeks:   
    - Archbishop Peter Alfred Sutton, O.M.I., emeritus of Keewatin-Le Pas,   
   Manitoba, Canada, on 5 September at the age of 80.   
    - Archbishop Bruno Tommasi, emeritus of Lucca, Italy on 17 September at the   
   age   
   of 85.   
    - Archbishop Georg Eder, emeritus of Salzburg, Austria on 19 September at the   
   age of 87.   
    - Bishop Giovanni De Vivo of Pescia, Italy on 20 September at the age of 75.   
    - Bishop Raphael Michael Fliss, emeritus of Superior, Wisconsin, USA, on 21   
   September at the age of 84.   
    - Bishop Carlos Anibal Altamirano Arguello of Azogues, Ecuador on 25 September   
   at the age of 73.   
    - Bishop Claudio Baggini, emeritus of Vigevano, Italy on 25 September at the   
   age of 79.   
    - Bishop Ferdinand Joseph Fonseca, auxiliary emeritus of Bombay, India on 2   
   October at the age of 89.   
    - Bishop Salvador Trane Modesto, auxiliary emeritus of San Carlos, Philippines   
   on 11 October at the age of 85.   
    - Archbishop Ignazio Cannavo, emeritus of Messina-Lipari-Santa Lucia del Mela,   
   Italy on 18 October at the age of 93.   
    - Archbishop Alessandro Plotti, emeritus of Pisa, Italy on 19 October at the   
   age of 83.   
    - Bishop Gilberto Jimenez Narvaez, auxiliary emeritus of Medellin, Colombia,   
   on   
   20 October at the age of 78.   
    - Cardinal Jan Chryzostom Korec, S.J, bishop emeritus of Nitra, Slovakia on 24   
   October at the age of 91.   
    - Bishop Gaston Poulain, P.S.S., emeritus of Perigueux (-Sarlat), France on 24   
   October at the age of 88.   
    - Bishop Georg Muller, SS.CC, prelate emeritus of Trondheim, Norway on 25   
   October at the age of 64.   
    - Bishop Giuseppe Nazzaro, O.F.M, apostolic vicar emeritus of Aleppo, Syria on   
   26 October at the age of 77.   
    - Bishop Joseph Dergham, emeritus of Cairo (Maronites), Egypt on 28 October at   
   the age of 85.   
    - Bishop Jorge Scarso, O.F.M. Cap, emeritus of Patos de Minas, Minas Gerais,   
   Brazil on 28 October at the age of 99.   
    - Archbishop Johannes Maria Trilaksyanta Pujasumarta of Semarang, Indonesia on   
   10 November at the age of 65.   
    - Bishop Jose Benedito Simao of Assis, Sao Paulo, Brazil on 27 November at the   
   age of 64.   
    - Bishop Federico Ocampo Escaler, S.J, prelate emeritus of Ipil, Philippines   
   on   
   28 November at the age of 93.   
    - Bishop Antonio Troyo Calderon, auxiliary emeritus of San Jose de Costa Rica,   
   Costa Rica on 1 December at the age of 92.   
    - Archbishop Ricardo Guizar Diaz, emeritus of Tlalnepantla, Mexico on 4   
   December at the age of 82.   
    - Archbishop emeritus Luigi Conti, formerly apostolic nuncio in Malta on 5   
   December at the age of 86.   
    - Archbishop Rrok Kola Mirdita of Tirana, Albania on 7 December at the age of   
   76.   
    - Bishop Anthony Francis Sharma, S.J., apostolic vicar emeritus of Nepal, on 8   
   December at the age of 77.   
    -Cardinal Carlo Furno, Grand Master emeritus of the Equestrian Order of the   
   Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem on 9 December at the age of 94.   
    - Bishop Matthew Shija, emeritus of Kahama, Tanzania on 9 December at the age   
   of 91.   
    - Cardinal Julio Terrazas Sandoval, C.SS.R., archbishop emeritus of Santa Cruz   
   de la Sierra, Bolivia on 9 December at the age of 79.   
    - Bishop Dermot Patrick O'Mahony, auxiliary emeritus of Dublin, Ireland on 10   
   December at the age of 80.   
    - Bishop Jiri Pa?our, O.F.M. Cap, emeritus of Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic   
   on 11 December at the age of 72.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 16 December 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Sao   
   Carlos,   
   Brazil, presented by Bishop Paulo Sergio Machado, in accordance with canon 401   
   para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.   
    - appointed Msgr. J. Gregory Kelly as auxiliary of Dallas (area 19,457,   
   population 3,847,430, Catholics 1,165,582, priests 213, permanent deacons 144,   
   religious 205), United States of America. The bishop-elect was born in LeMars,   
   United States of America, in 1956 and was ordained a priest in 1982. He holds a   
   Master of Divinity from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, and has   
   served in a number of pastoral roles in the diocese of Dallas, including parish   
   vicar, chaplain at the University of Texas, parish priest, director of priestly   
   vocations, vicar forane, rector ad interim of the Holy Trinity seminary, and   
   member of the college of consultors, the presbyteral council and the board of   
   directors of the University of Texas. He is currently vicar for the clergy. In   
   2013 he was named Chaplain of His Holiness.   
      
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