Friday, July 19, 2013

Pope sets up Vatican finances probe

Pope Francis has created another commission of inquiry into the Vatican's finances.

He has named an eight-member committee to recommend ways to fix the Holy See's economic and administrative shortcomings.

The Vatican said the commission's aims were to "simplify and rationalise" the Holy See administration.

The commission, made up of seven lay people and a monsignor, will recommend reforms to avoid wasting money, improve transparency, better administer the Vatican's vast real estate holdings and ensure correct accounting principles.

It is the third such commission Francis has created since being named pope.

In April he named eight cardinals to help him govern and study an overall reform of the Vatican bureaucracy. 

The second commission is investigating the scandal-plagued Vatican bank, whose top two managers resigned amid a widening money-laundering probe by Italian magistrates.