Vatican City, Jun 10, 2016 / 05:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After putting a freeze on their contract with external auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers in April, the Vatican has announced a new agreement with the company, who will now serve as an aide to the Holy See’s own internal auditing entity. A June 10 statement from the Vatican said that the Holy See and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) “have entered into a new agreement” which allows for “a broader collaboration with PwC that is adaptable to the Holy See’s needs.” PwC, the statement read, “will play an assisting role and will also be available to those (departments) that wish to avail themselves of its support and consulting services.” The statement also recognized that by law, the task of performing the Vatican’s financial audits belongs “to the Office of the Auditor General (URG), as is normally the case for every sovereign state.” The Auditor General is a new office established in 2014 as part of Pope Francis’ sweeping reform of Vatican finances, and is responsible for carrying out the small city-state’s annual audits. The office is currently headed by Italian layman Libero Milone. Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC) initially made headlines when it was hired by the Secretariat for the Economy in December 2015 to audit the books of the Vatican's 120 financial departments and to check whether they had been filed according to international accountability standards. The audit was suspended by the Secretariat of State in April with two letters signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and by his deputy, Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, claiming that proper procedures had not been correctly applied. Some media outlets claimed the suspension was the result of an ongoing power struggle in the Vatican aimed at blocking Pope Francis’ reforms. However, the Vatican has firmly rejected this idea, saying in an April 26 communique that the problems are rather due to questions concerning “the meaning and scope of certain clauses of the contract” with PwC, as well as their methods of implementation. The Vatican reaffirmed this in their statement Friday, stressing that the suspension “was not due to considerations regarding the integrity or the quality of PwC’s work, nor is it attributable to the desire of one or more entities of the Holy See to hinder reforms.” In the time that’s elapsed, the two parties have been able to examine the issues together “in an atmosphere of serene collaboration,” resolving the initial concerns. In fact, the new agreement allows all of the Holy See’s offices and departments “to participate more actively in the reforms underway,” the statement read. However, the Vatican also stressed that patience is needed in terms of seeing the reforms carried out and implemented, since the process of applying international accounting standards is typically “complex and prolonged.” This process “requires a series of legislative choices as well as the adoption of administrative and accounting procedures, which are presently under development.” With the new contract in place, “the Holy See will promptly reassume its collaboration with PwC,” the Vatican’s statement read, stressing that the Holy See’s commitment to the economic-financial audit of the city-state “has been, and remains, a priority.” Read more

Vatican City, Jun 10, 2016 / 12:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After raising funds for humanitarian relief in Ukraine through a special collection in Europe, Pope Francis has established a committee to decipher the most urgent needs and get help to where it's most needed. According to a June 9 communique from the Vatican “the Pope has decided to establish a specific technical committee on-site, composed of a president and four members” to help with the distribution of the funds raised through the collection. The president of the committee, appointed by the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin in a recent letter, is Bishop Jan Sobilo, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia. The Latin rite diocese is located in northeastern Ukraine, near to the front line of the separatist-held areas in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. It will be up to Bishop Sobilo, a native of Poland, to name the other members of the committee apart from one, who will be appointed jointly by the Caritas Internationalis and the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. The formation of the committee, which has been given a year-long mandate, follows Pope Francis’ decision to take up an April 24 collection in all the Catholic parishes of Europe to promote humanitarian support for all those suffering or displaced due to the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Conflict erupted in Ukraine in November 2013, when the former government refused to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union, leading to months of violent protests. Tensions deepened in February 2014, when the country’s former president was ousted following the protests, and a new government appointed. In March of that year, Ukraine’s eastern peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Russia, and pro-Russian separatists have since taken control of eastern portions of Ukraine. More than 6,500 people, including civilians, have died in the fighting between Ukraine's military and the separatists. Roughly 2 million others have been forced to flee due to violence and a lack of basic humanitarian necessities such as food and medicine. The rebels have been supported by both Russian arms and troops, according to both Ukraine and Western nations. A ceasefire was brokered and officially began Feb. 15, 2015; however, the agreement fell through and low-level fighting has continued, with new deaths reported each day.   Pope Francis’ collection was aimed “exclusively for the benefit of the victims of the war, without distinction of religion, confession, or ethnicity.” The headquarters of the new committee tasked with distributing the funds raised will be located in the Curia of the Kharkiv-Zaporizhia diocese. Those who work with the committee, either at the headquarters or in the field, will do so on a volunteer basis to ensure that all of the funds raised by the collection will benefit those affected by the war. According to the Vatican communique, Cardinal Parolin’s letter appointing the committee’s president also stipulated certain conditions for proposals on what the funds will be used for. One stressed that any proposals must be received directly from interreligious or inter-confessional establishments, from individuals areas of need, or from individual bishops, including non-Catholics, where there are no formal establishments. Since the collection and the committee are personal initiatives of the Pope, the final referents of the project are the Secretariat of State and the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which can be contacted through the Apostolic Nunciature in Ukraine. The "technical supervision” of the implementation of the committee’s work, however, has been entrusted to Cor Unum. In an exclusive, sit-down interview with CNA last month, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said Ukrainians are grateful for the Pope’s help and attention to the conflict. “We are very grateful to the Holy Father for his initiative, first of all to bring attention of the international community to the suffering of Ukrainian citizens in Ukraine.” All Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, are willing to cooperate with the Pope in his initiative in order to reach the people who are suffering and in need, he said, expressing his gratitude that Francis “is trying to awaken the consciousness of European Christians to that silence about the unjust war against Ukraine.”   Read more

Vatican City, Jun 9, 2016 / 03:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The sick and disabled have always held a special place in Pope Francis’ heart, and have been the recipients of some of his most tender acts as Bishop of Rome. Now they will take on the prominent roles at a Mass for the Year of Mercy at the Vatican. Thousands of sick and disabled persons will journey to Rome with their families and caregivers this week for a special jubilee in their honor, culminating with a June 12 Mass said by Pope Francis in which the sick and disabled will conduct all of the readings, do the singing, and serve at the altar. “I would like to highlight the importance of this jubilee of the sick and disabled because we know that many times in our ceremonies a small group of them are present, but in this opportunity they will be the protagonists,” Archbishop Jose Octavio Ruiz Arenas said June 9. Secretary of Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, Archbishop Ruiz spoke to journalists during the presentation of the activities for the June 10-12 Jubilee for Sick and Disabled Persons. “We know that all sick and disabled people suffer, normally a lot. And at times also due to the indifference of those beside them,” the archbishop said, explaining that the jubilee is a time to remember all that the Church does and has done for people in this category throughout history. He was joined in the presentation by the president of the council, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who gave an overview of the jubilee activities, the climax of which is Sunday’s Mass with the Pope. So far 20,000 sick and disabled persons and their caregivers have registered for jubilee events, and 50,000 tickets have already been printed for the Pope’s Mass, which is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square. Altar servers for the liturgy will include several youths with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities; a German deacon who is deaf will assist the celebrants. The first reading will be proclaimed by a disabled person in Spanish, while the day’s second reading will be done in English by a blind girl, who will read aloud from Braille. The Gospel will be read, and for the first time dramatized by a group of intellectually disabled people, so that the text will be more easily understood by pilgrims with mental and intellectual disabilities who learn better through visual means. Each of the readings, including the Gospel, will be translated into International Sign Language for the deaf pilgrims present, while the intentions of the faithful will be translated into sign languages specific to individual nations. One of the sign language interpreters present at Thursday’s presentation of the jubilee explained to journalists that just as in spoken languages, there are different sign languages from country to country, as well as different dialects. However, she noted that the only sign word that’s the same across the board in every variation is “Jesus.” Before Mass begins Sunday, pilgrims already in St. Peter’s Square will participate in a 9 a.m. event titled “When I am weak I am strong,” featuring testimonies from various disabled individuals, including a couple affected by a degenerative neurological illness and a woman named Maria Grazia Fiore, who has two disabled children. Enrico Petrillo, the husband of Chiara Corbella, who died at age 28 after choosing to reject treatment and save her unborn baby after a tumor was discovered during their third pregnancy, will also speak. A well-known Italian image called “Our Lady Health of the Sick” will also be displayed during the Mass. Normally residing in the church of St. Mary Magdalene in Rome’s Campo Marzio neighborhood, the painting dates back to the 16th century and was given to the church by a nobleman in 1619 after he was miraculously healed from an illness when he prayed in front of the image. The jubilee will kick off Friday with a round of catechesis given by blind and deaf Redemptorist priest Fr. Ciryl Axelrod, as well as a walking pilgrimage from Castel Sant’Angelo to the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica. On Saturday pilgrims will be able to attend another catechesis titled “Mercy, source of joy” in different churches in the historical center of Rome. In the evening they will participate in a special welcome ceremony titled “Over the limit” in the gardens of Castel Sant’Angelo, which sits on the other end of Via della Conciliazione, the main road leading up to St. Peter’s Basilica. During the event, sick and disabled pilgrims will be serenaded by the official band of the Italian police force, called the Carabinieri, and they will also be able to perform with professional singers and dancers. Two songs will also be performed in sign language As of 2 p.m. Saturday, seven “Tents of Mercy” will be set up where various pastoral organizations and volunteer associations such as U.N.I.T.A.L.S.I., Onlus, the Sant’Egidio Community, and the Health Ministry of the Italian Bishops Conference will be available to share their experiences with the world of illness and disability. As a concrete sign of mercy for the less fortunate, the Med Tag Foundation will set up four “Health Points” Friday afternoon, where Rome’s homeless can come to receive services free of charge. Roughly 350 volunteers, including women religious, Red Cross nurses, military staff and healthcare workers, will offer free examinations to some 700 homeless individuals in the fields of general medicine, dermatology, oncology, pediatrics, and gynecology. Vaccines for pneumonia will also be available, as well as PAP tests for women. Archbishop Ruiz in his comments to journalists stressed that “we can't forget that the caring for the sick is one of the corporal works of mercy to which we all are called.” “It’s a reality that underlines what the Pope frequently tells us: that we must touch the flesh of Christ - in these sick people we can find the place to truly touch the flesh of the Lord.” Mercy, he said, can’t be reduced to a deep feeling that moves us, but instead “mercy must be active, something concrete.” One concrete sign of mercy is precisely the Jubilee for sick and disabled persons, he said, explaining that the event provides each person with the opportunity to put the Holy Year of Mercy’s motto into action, and be “merciful like the Father.” “So it will be a strong moment in this jubilee and a opportunity that can help many sick people to have a bit of hope and joy.” Read more