Financial actions lawful?

adminonJanuary 13, 2022January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

The Vatican gendarmerie on Tuesday searched offices of the first section of the Secretariat of State and the financial regulator AIF. As Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni later announced, documents and computers were seized.

The action, authorized by Vatican Prosecutor Gian Piero Milano, was related to charges filed by the Vatican Bank IOR and the Auditor General last summer, according to the report. It had been about "financial actions over time". The respective office managers had been informed, said Bruni. Further details were not mentioned.

The action is unusual because the Secretariat of State is considered the heart of Vatican administration and diplomacy. The AIF is supposed to watch over the legality of financial actions of the Holy See. The seizures at the Secretariat of State reportedly involved the department that maintains contacts with the Holy See's diplomatic missions worldwide.

Pope calls for more transparency in Vatican finances

Pope Francis has been trying to reorganize the rules governing the financial conduct of the Vatican Curia and the Holy See since the beginning of his term about six years ago. He called for more transparency and adherence to international standards. However, key offices that have been created or strengthened in this context are not filled or are filled only with a transitional acting head.

For example, since the leave of absence of Cardinal George Pell, who has since been convicted in his native Australia of sexually abusing two boys, the economic secretariat has not had an acting head since June 2017. The Auditor General's anti-corruption office has also been under provisional leadership since June 2017.

Outdated or still useful? Stiftung warentest had navis compete against map apps.

Do you still need a car atlas or a navigation device, or is the right map app enough?? Stiftung warentest has tested navis and apps and judges: it depends.

Anyone who used to go on vacation by car was well advised to have a car atlas or at least a foldable road map in their glove compartment. the first navigation devices with a display quickly outstripped the cumbersome paper plans, but in the age of smartphones, devices from tomtom, garmin and co. Only a niche existence. Many drivers today simply use their smartphone as a navigation system – but is that always the best choice??

Type thing

After all, a navigation device isn’t exactly cheap: the devices tested by warentest cost between 160 and 380 euros. Navi-apps like google maps or here we go, on the other hand, are available for free. warentest doesn’t have a universal recommendation – it’s more a question of the user type. Are you a frequent or occasional user?? Smartphone-savvy or rather inexperienced in using apps?

Low data consumption, a large screen and independence from mobile communications – at least as long as you don’t call up real-time information – are arguments in favor of having your own device. smartphone apps, on the other hand, often have the advantage of being free, always available on your cell phone, and always ready to go with fast route calculation. In addition, smartphone users can easily try out or alternate between several services.

Tomtom overall winner

In the test, in which seven conventional devices with a suction cup mount compete against seven navigation apps, the tomtom go 6200 emerged as the narrow winner (overall score 1.8 "good"). At a price of 380 euros, however, it is also the most expensive device and is therefore most likely to be worthwhile for frequent drivers. second place goes to the two navigation devices garmin drivesmart 61 for 220 euros (grade 1.9) and the tomtom go essential 6 for 269 euro (note 1,9). Only then is the first smartphone app in third place – also from tomtom. The app go mobile costs 20 euros a year and narrowly outperforms its free competitors in the overall rating with a score of 2.1 ("good").

On the most important point "navigation has the second best app google maps but the nose in front, the service is the only one to achieve the mark 1.7. The free map service that comes preinstalled on every android phone and is also available free of charge for ios users "shines" in this category, according to the verdict of the testers. Crucial disadvantage: the app consumes a lot of data in online mode. There is also no speed camera warning (yet) – but its use is a legal gray area in germany anyway.

Overall, in the navigation category apps and device are on about equal footing, none of the systems offers decisive advantages, all of them can handle route guidance – the app ALK copilot does not provide optimal guidance, however; among other things, it has problems recalculating the route.

Apps pull data, but guide better

If you use an app, you should, if possible, download maps in advance in the WLAN, because otherwise the free applications in particular consume a lot of data. At waze and apple maps always accrues data. Apple’s app, which is the only one in the test not available for android, also has the highest data consumption in the test, 10 megabytes (MB) for a twelve-kilometer city trip. Google maps consumes almost 8 MB in online mode for the same route in the android version; the ios version is somewhat more economical at 6 MB. All purchase apps, on the other hand, remain under 1 MB.

Traffic jams and traffic information are received by the apps and the tomtom go 6200 via mobile radio at lightning speed. The tomtom has a built-in SIM card for this purpose, which does not incur any additional costs for the user, even abroad – a real plus point and a great unique selling point. All other navigation devices must be paired with a cell phone via bluetooth to receive traffic services. exception is the tomtom start 62, relies on the TMC (traffic message channel) traffic service, which receives traffic reports via FM radio stations. Because of the outdated technology and lack of explanations, it gets in the test point "traffic service" but the grade "poor.

When it comes to maps, the apps offer more options than the devices, which, according to warentest, only have european maps available for download – road maps for other parts of the world may have to be purchased as well. The apps from google, tomtom, here and apple offer road maps from all over the world for free downloading.

Pedestrians, cyclists and train riders

A useful finding of the testers: drivers should trust the navigation system’s or app’s recommendations for avoiding traffic jams. The predictions of length and duration are usually correct; if you follow the recommendations, you can save a lot of time. Tomtom and google maps have the best recommendations here. The apps NNG igo, ALK copilot and the android versions of waze and here wego are less accurate.

If you’re a navigation user who sometimes wants to leave the car behind, you’re also better off with a smartphone app than with your own device. The apps google maps and here we go are the only test candidates that, in addition to classic car navigation, also calculate routes for pedestrians, cyclists and for public transportation. Tomtom still offers pedestrian and bicycle navigation, while users of garmin and waze have to do without all three extras. With apple maps, cyclists are left out in the cold.

Stairs in an old building © A-photographyy (shutterstock)

They work for the Catholic Church and are becoming less and less common. This does not refer to pastors – but the profession is linked to them: According to current estimates, there are also fewer and fewer parish housekeepers. How has the profession changed??

Interviewer: My great uncle was a priest and lived with his sister under one roof. She did his budget. In the 70's no one was surprised about that. But today it is a rather rare model, isn't it??

Annette Koster (Chairwoman of the Diocesan Association of Parish Housekeepers in the Archdiocese of Cologne): It's very rare today for a sister or cousin or aunt to be a parish housekeeper. Whereas in the past, there were often people who were not related to the priests. But that's really the rule today, that someone from the outside comes in.

Interviewer: But there are fewer than 800 full-time parish housekeepers nationwide living under the same roof as a Catholic priest. I'm sure that's mainly because there are simply fewer parish priests than there were 40 years ago, or?

Koster: One is coupled with the other. But of course it is also due to the changed way of life of the priests. In former times, as it always was with men anyway, the parish housekeepers were rather clueless in the household. That has changed fundamentally. The willingness to also have another person living in the house has also become much less.

Interviewer: But we can't talk about this ie without addressing the stereotype. "The woman in the priest's household" naturally gives rise to gossip.

Koster: Yes, of course. You've got to have something to gossip about. I think that is the case in all areas of life. That is of course always interesting. We are, and the pastor of course anyway, at the center of the congregation and in the spotlight as well. As is the way with cliches. There may be something to it, there may not be – there is everything.

Interviewer: We always talk about the female form "housekeeper". It's predominantly a female profession, but there are also housekeepers, or?

Koster: There are certainly. At the federal level I have heard it many times. In our diocese we have two men in the household.

Interviewer: Have the tasks of parish housekeepers changed in the past 40 to 50 years?? My first association goes in the direction of: cooking, washing, cleaning – in other words, housekeeping, in order to relieve the priest in these necessary things.

Koster: These areas are of course still part of it. In our case, for example, there is also a large garden, which is very important. But there are also more and more varied tasks that are taken on as well. I'll use myself as an example: I also sometimes fill in at church as a sexton. I'm also still a church musician on the side. I also operate the parish office telephone in case of need. You have to be flexible when you take up the profession.

Interviewer: Do you need a professional training or do you do it as a career changer??

Koster: There is no special vocational training for parish housekeepers. Some are housekeepers, but it's really all career changers.

Interviewer: Can you say something about the earnings of a parish housekeeper?? Is there something like a nationwide tariff??

Koster: No, there is not. It is being worked on at the federal level. It is very different in the different dioceses. In Cologne we are in the middle of the field. But we are also in the process of making improvements, especially with regard to retirement, which will come at some point and which is always difficult for the single woman anyway. You have to be behind the times, and we are behind the times.

Interviewer: You are not only a parish housekeeper, but also the chairwoman of the parish housekeepers here in the archdiocese of Cologne, and in this function you represent the interests of the parish housekeepers. Do you also mediate jobs, or is it a completely different ie?

Koster: But, we have already inquiries. They will then come from the General Vicariate or can also contact us directly at the contact address on the homepage. There are women who come forward who would like to become parish housekeepers. But there are also priests who come forward and say: I am looking for someone. Can you help me?

The interview was conducted by Tobias Fricke.

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