Vatican bank director and deputy resign

The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy resigned yesterday, following the latest developments in a finance scandal that has landed one monsignor in prison and added urgency to Pope Francis’s reform efforts.

The Vatican said in a statement that Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, stepped down “in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See”.

Mr Cipriani, along with the bank’s then-president, was placed under investigation by Rome prosecutors in 2010 for alleged violations of Italy’s anti-money-laundering norms after financial police seized €23m from a Vatican account at a Rome bank.