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On November 4, the Vatican City Post Office released its final series of stamps and postal products for 2024. The releases included seven stamp series, the annual aerogramme and the annual postal card set. In addition, during the fourth quarter the annual stamp set is normally released. For Vatican City collectors in the United States, this has been a period of frustration. Since late October, the Commercializzazione Filatelica e Numismatica (CFN), Vatican City’s Philatelic and Numismatic sales department, has been “incommunicato”. The CFN website has been down for “site maintenance”, with CFN beginning a “significant process of renewing its activities and a complete overhaul of the management of personal data, in accordance with provisions mentioned in Decree No. DCLVII of 30/04/2024 on the protection of personal data” (as quoted from the CFN website). As a result, the normal channel for United States collectors to purchase Vatican City stamps has been out of operation, which is particularly unfortunate as we are in the Christmas season and the Jubilee Year of 2025 will open next week on Christmas Eve. However, we have good news! VPS information sources inside the Vatican has told us that CFN activities will resume in early January 2025. From what we are being told, VPS members will be able to order 2024 Vatican stamp issues and new 2025 issues from the CFN website in January of 2025. This is very good news and we are excited to finally get some information! Members should watch for communications from CFN after the first of the year regarding their accounts and ordering information. Despite the fact that these stamps are not currently available for purchase via CFN, we felt it would be useful to at least present some information on the philatelic items issued for the fourth quarter. For additional information on these releases, the reference at the bottom of this email links to the Vatican’s official release for the 2024 philatelic items (the “Comunicato 1/2024” document). It can be accessed via the hyperlink in the reference. The document is in Italian, but it does provide images for all philatelic material for 2024, including special postmarks used for select events during the year (for example, the special postmark for World Day of Peace on January 1, 2024). The images in this email are taken from the “Communicato” and picture the stamps, postal cards, and aerogrammes from the fourth quarter, as well as the special postmarks used by the Vatican Post Office for the first days of release for the items pictured. Here is a rundown of the nine philatelic releases to wrap up 2024: Christmas 2024. This year’s Christmas series coincides with the start of the Jubilee Year of 2025. The release consists of two stamps that were issued both as sheets of tens stamps and in booklet form, with the stamp booklets containing four stamps, two of each denomination. The image below shows the two stamps and the booklet cover (as well as the special first-day postmark). 
Papal Travels of 2023. The pilgrimage voyages of Pope Francis in 2023 were memorialized on a minisheet containing one E2.45 stamp embedded in the image showing his destinations in 2023: the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, Hungary, Portugal, Mongolia and Marseille, France. 
Bicentenary of the Institute of Sant’Apollinare 
75th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Pontifical Alphonsian Academy 
170th Anniversary of the Rededication of the Basilica of Saint Paul 
Postal card set for the 450th Anniversary of the Death of Giorgio Vasari. The set honors the 16th century painter, architect, and historian with four postal cards showing his works while under the patronage of Pope Pius V. 
750th Anniversary of the Death of Saint Bonaventure. The annual aerogramme for 2024 honors Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, the great Franciscan theologian, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church. 
25th Anniversary of the Venice Foundation for Peace Research 
40th Anniversary of the Peace Treaty between Argentina and Chile 
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