“Fifteen Years Since the First Anti-Money Laundering (AML) / Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Law in the Holy See and Vatican City State – Developments and Perspectives” was the theme of the international conference held in The Dome at Luiss University in Rome on Tuesday 29 September. The event was organized by the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF).
Following welcoming remarks by Professor Paolo Boccardelli, Rector of Luiss University, Monsignor Anthony Ekpo, Assessor for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State and President of the Financial Security Committee of the Holy See and Vatican City State, stressed the need not only to celebrate the progress achieved, but also to subject it once again to careful scrutiny.
Monsignor Ekpo recalled that, following the promulgation of Law No. CXXVII [127] of 30 December 2010, which introduced the first comprehensive framework in Vatican City State for the prevention and combating of money laundering and terrorist financing — and whose application Benedict XVI extended to the relevant institutions of the Holy See — subsequent reforms strengthened prevention, supervision, financial intelligence, coordination and international cooperation.
During his address, the President of the Vatican’s Financial Security Committee recalled that when Pope Francis met with the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts (MONEYVAL) on 8 October 2020, he referred to a principle expressed in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium: “Money must serve, not rule!” (58).
The international conference was divided into five sessions and brought together academics, members of the judiciary and representatives of various institutions. Participants included Federico Antellini Russo, Vatican Director of ASIF, Monsignor Brian Edwin Ferme, Secretary of the Council for the Economy in the Vatican, Roberto Zannotti, Deputy Promoter of Justice of Vatican City State, Alistair Chad Dutton, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, Nicola Muccioli, President of the Council of Europe’s MONEYVAL Committee, Paola Severino, President of the Luiss School of Law, and Anita Titomanlio, Head of Legal Affairs at ASIF.
The concluding remarks were entrusted to Sr Raffaella Petrini, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State. She emphasized that “the measures adopted to preserve the distinctive legal order of the Vatican while at the same time harmonizing its domestic law with international legislation demonstrate the foresight of the popes.” In particular, they provide “practical tools to prevent and combat unlawful activity, protect economic and financial structures and, in this way, contribute to international peace and a just social order.”
This approach, moreover, is consistent with the Social Doctrine of the Church, which requires that “economic, financial and commercial mechanisms be subject to serious ethical and technical scrutiny.”
Sr. Petrini then recalled Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical letter Magnifica Humanitas affirming that justice “concerns every stage of economic activity, including the acquisition of resources and financing. Only economic activity founded on sound anthropological and moral principles can truly meet primary needs and support human development.”
