Pope sets up Vatican Bank probe

Pope Francis has named a commission of inquiry to look into the activities of the troubled Vatican bank, amid a new money-laundering probe and continued questions about the secretive institution.

It was the second time in as many weeks that Francis has intervened to get to the bottom of the problems plaguing the Institute for Religious Works for decades.

On Jun 15, he filled a key vacancy in the bank’s governing structure, tapping a trusted friend to be his eyes inside the bank with access to documentation, board meetings, and management.

Yesterday, he named a commission to investigate the bank’s legal structure and activities “to allow for a better harmonisation with the universal mission of the Apostolic See”, according to the legal document that created it.

He named five people to the commission, including two Americans: Msgr Peter Wells, a top official in the Vatican secretariat of state, and Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard law professor, former US ambassador to the Holy See, and current president of a pontifical academy.

The commission is already at work. Members can gather documents, data, and information, even surpassing normal secrecy rules.

The announcement came as Rev Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokes- man, confirmed yesterday that Msgr Nunzio Scarano had been suspended temporarily from one of the Vatican’s key finance offices as part of a money laundering probe.