Pell named prefect in Francis's Holy See overhaul

Pope Francis has announced the first major overhaul of the Vatican’s outdated and scandal-plagued bureaucracy in a quarter-century, creating an economics secretariat to control all economic, administrative, personnel, and procurement functions of the Holy See.

Australian Cardinal George Pell, one of Francis’s core eight cardinal advisers and a sharp critic of current Vatican governance, was named prefect of the new office. He will report to a new 15-member economy council made up of eight cardinals reflecting various parts of the world and seven lay experts.

Francis was elected Pope a year ago on a mandate to reform the Vatican after documents stolen by Pope Benedict XVI’s butler revealed the Holy See bureaucracy to be a dysfunctional, Machiavellian world of petty turf battles, corruption, and political intrigue.