Both pilgrims and
counterfeiters have geared up for the Jubilee.
Not only are fake rosaries, images and key rings flooding
the religious-items market, there are also counterfeit
personalized apostolic blessings on pontifical parchment with
Holy See seals and photos of Pope Francis.
Italian finance police confiscated 3,500 on Monday, a day
when Interior Minister Angelino Alfano and Finance Police Chief
Saverio Capolupo presented the first results of the Jubilaeum
action plan against fraud and counterfeiting during the Holy
Year.
"We knew that the Jubilee would have been hit by illicit
business and fraudsters, and we thus prepared to fight against
it," the minister said.
"A million counterfeit products have been confiscated this
first week. The Jubilaeum plan aims to help pilgrims, increase
perceived security and the fight against illegal trade,
accommodation and counterfeit products. Every day as many as 32
finance police patrols are carried out in Rome to step up
surveillance.''
A shop near St Peter's Basilica has been found to have
housed the illegal printing press for the fraudulent apostolic
blessings offered to unwitting pilgrims.
The parchments had already had Pope Francis's image and
the papal and Vatican State emblems stamped on them.
They also had - in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and
English - the words 'blessing of the pilgrim' on them and were
personalized with names provided by the buyers.
The shopkeeper, who did not possess the necessary
authorization from the Holy See, has been reported to the police
for production and trade in counterfeit goods.
The parchments confiscated are worth over 70,000 euros,
and the amount taken over during the first few days on sale is
being calculated.
Alfano spoke about the lower number of visitors than
expected during the beginning of this Holy Year, saying that it
did not have to do with the concerns raised by the recent attack
in Paris.
He noted that ''the number of pilgrims for the Jubilee are
those expected and do not directly depend in any way on
post-Paris anxiety.
"Pope Francis's strategy has been to open several Holy
Doors and valorize other places of worship across the nation,
such as Loreto and S.Giovanni Rotondo.
"So it is not necessary to come to Rome to take part in
the ceremony''.
On the issue of security, the interior minister said that
''on (the opening day) December 8, some 200,000 people took part
in events in Rome and there was only one person reported to the
police, for possession of a knife. This is proof that the
(security) plan worked''.
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