Vatican, the pope passes an anti-corruption law for cardinals and leaders

2021-05-02T11:31:20.257Z

On the day of the expected approval of the Moneyval report, the Holy See announces a motu proprio with which Pope Francis regulates the conflicts of interest of Vatican leaders, including cardinals. In the new anti-corruption crackdown, Jorge Mario Bergoglio prohibits, among other things, accepting gifts worth more than 40 euros and provides for the possibility of firing those who will be responsible for "non-declaration or false or mendacious declaration" , as well as asking them for damages. "According to Scripture, fidelity in matters of little consequence is related to fidelity in important ones", is the opening words of the motu proprio. "Just as being dishonest in small things is related to being dishonest in important things too",he continues by quoting the Gospel of Luke. The provision, signed on April 26, follows the "procurement code" approved by the pope last spring because, Francis writes in the introduction, corruption "can manifest itself in different ways and forms even in sectors other than procurement and for this reason the regulations and best practices at the international level provide for particular transparency obligations for subjects who hold key roles in the public sector for the purpose of preventing and combating, in every sector, conflicts of interest, patronage methods and corruption in general " . Moneyval, the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts for the Evaluation of Measures Against Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, is discussing today, and will eventually approve,the report evaluating the progress made by the Vatican in this matter. The content of the report will not be published, however, before a review by the Anti Money Laundering / Counter Terrorist Financing (AML / Cft) network, led by the Financial Action Task Force (Fatf), expected in mid-June.