By Vatican News staff writer

A Moneyval team of experts wrapped-up what has been described as a positive and collaborative on-site visit to the Vatican on Tuesday.

A statement released by the Holy See Press Office said the meetings, that took place during the evaluation visit, “were held in a constructive and cooperative atmosphere.”

Moneyval

Known as ‘Moneyval’, the Committee is a permanent monitoring body of the Council of Europe entrusted with the task of assessing compliance with the principal international standards to counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism. It also makes recommendations to authorities in respect to necessary improvements of their systems.

The visit was to assess the effectiveness of the legislative and institutional measures adopted by Holy See jurisdictions in recent years within this context. It was undertaken as part of a routine evaluation round system established in 2019.

An important step

The Holy See statement said the just-ended assessment visit represents“a further important step of the evaluation process on the effectiveness of the system for preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, which will end with the adoption of the Mutual Evaluation Report during the Plenary Assembly scheduled for spring 2021, consistently with the internal procedures of the Moneyval Committee.”

It concluded noting that “the authorities of the Holy See extend their heartfelt and profound gratitude to the team of evaluators and to the members of the Secretariat of the Moneyval Committee.”

Pope Francis welcomed the Moneyval team on Thursday highlighting the need for clean finance at the service of humanity and for a system that does not oppress the weakest and those who are in greatest need.

Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin welcomed the Moneyval evaluation team when it arrived in the Vatican on 30 September, reiterating the commitment and engagement of the Holy See and Vatican City State to combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.