Pope Francis has called for an end to the death penalty worldwide, lifting the burden of debt on poor nations, global aid policies that respect life and revamped laws that welcome and integrate migrants.
He made the appeals in his message for World Peace Day, which is on January 1. The message, delivered to world leaders by Vatican ambassadors, was released at the Vatican earlier this month.
The Pope also urged people not to let indifference, information overload or pessimism discourage them from efforts “to improve the world around us, beginning with our families, neighbours and places of employment”.
Building peace, he said, was not accomplished by words alone, but through the grace of God, a conversion of heart, an attitude of compassion and the courage to act against despair.
In the message, entitled Overcome Indifference and Win Peace, the Pope asked that countries “refrain from drawing other peoples into conflicts or wars”, which not only destroy a nation’s infrastructure and cultural heritage, but also their “moral and spiritual integrity”; forgive or make less burdensome the international debt of poorer nations; and “adopt policies of cooperation which, instead of bowing before the dictatorship of certain ideologies, will respect the values of the local populations” and not harm the “fundamental and inalienable right to life of the unborn”.
The Pope’s message also focused on the dangers of cynicism and indifference against God, neighbour and creation. “Disregard and the denial of God,” he said, “have produced untold cruelty and violence.” And the exploitation of natural resources and mistreatment of animals have an effect “on the way we treat other people”.
Watchdog urges Vatican to crack down on corruption
European experts on preventing financial crimes have praised the Vatican for updating its laws, but called for “real results” in cracking down on infringements and prosecuting offences.
Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism, said the Vatican had addressed “most of the technical deficiencies in its legislation and
regulations”.
“However, there is a need for the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing system to deliver effective results in terms of prosecutions, convictions and confiscation [of criminal assets],” it said.
The Moneyval committee said the Vatican’s stepped-up efforts in reviewing bank accounts meant the number of “suspicious activity reports has risen sharply”, numbering 329 reports between January and September. Vatican prosecutors have received 30 reports for investigation, have frozen about 11 million euros and launched 29 money-laundering investigations, the report said. “However, no indictments or prosecutions have, as yet, been brought.”
Pope ‘gave our nation a chance’
A Catholic leader in the Central African Republic has said Pope Francis’s message of peaceful coexistence “touched the Muslim community and [has] given us a real chance”.
Mgr Cyriaque Gbate Doumalo, secretary-general of the bishops’ conference, said: “Our Church is trying to protect the … social cohesion which the Pope bequeathed to us.”
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