Pope Francis orders audit of church’s wealth and spending

Pope Francis, galvanised by a scandal over Vatican finances, has ordered the most powerful bodies in the city-state to launch an unprecedented audit of its wealth and crackdown on runaway spending.

At the suggestion of his economic chief, Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis has set up a “Working-Party for the Economic Future” which brings together the Secretariat of State, or prime minister’s office, the Vatican Bank and other agencies, said Danny Casey, director of Cardinal Pell’s office at the Secretariat for the Economy, said.

The pope’s initiatives come as five people stand trial in the Vatican over the leak of confidential documents in two books published last month that described corruption, mismanagement and wasteful spending by church officials.