Posted on 09/04/2001 6:08:34 PM PDT by It'salmosttolate
Pope's profile takes Vatican into eurozone
FROM RICHARD OWEN IN ROME AND SAM COATES
THE Vatican revealed yesterday that euro coins bearing the Pope’s profile are to be minted by the Holy See, becoming legal tender across Europe.
Bearing the image of Pope John Paul II, they are expected to become immediately sought- after by Roman Catholics and currency collectors when the euro is launched.
The small number of euro coins engraved with the papal profile being minted will initially go into circulation in Vatican City, but their limited number means that the European Central Bank expects them to change hands for higher than face value.
The Vatican has been able to introduce the coins featuring the Pope’s profile because it is exploiting a little-known rule that allows small principalities to mint their own coins in the new single currency.
This has enabled the independent states of Monaco and San Marino to produce their own coins, although their designs have not yet been made public.
Gold and silver coins with the Pope’s head on the back have been in limited circulation since the Vatican first started to mint coins in the 8th century. This will be the first time in modern European history that coins bearing the Pope’s image will officially become legal tender across Europe.
At present the Vatican, one of the world’s smallest states, uses Italian lire, by agreement with the Italian State and the Italian Mint, with Holy See coins — although not bank-notes — bearing the Pope’s face and other papal symbols.
Under the Lateran Concordat signed by the Holy See and the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini in 1929, the Vatican has the right to “personalise” or “Vaticanise“ its lire coinage, but not its banknotes, which are Italian. Vatican coins and stamps are produced by the Italian State under contract.
Lire coins bearing Vatican symbols are much sought- after by collectors and sometimes find their way into circulation in Rome outside the confines of the Vatican.
Yesterday L’Avvenire, the Italian Catholic daily, said that the advent of the “Vatican euro” would mean that the Pope’s image would be “in the pockets of people around Europe”. It said that there were also plans to produce commemorative Vatican euro coins in silver and gold.
The Vatican decided to opt for the euro three years ago, with papal advisers concluding that the Holy See’s long-standing currency link with Italy made this “an inevitable step”. A formal agreement between the Vatican and Italy on adoption of the euro was signed last December.
The coins produced by the Vatican will have special religious significance for the millions of Catholics around the world because they carry the image of their spiritual leader. However the Holy See is unable to mint more coins because of tight restrictions drawn up by the European Central Bank. It ruled that because the Vatican has such a tiny population covering so small an area, it can produce only a very limited number of “papal” euros.
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