Pope creates new commission of inquiry for finance

Pope Francis INQUIRER file photo

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has created another commission of inquiry into the Vatican’s finances, naming an eight-member committee to recommend ways to fix the Holy See’s economic and administrative shortcomings.

The Vatican said Friday the commission’s aims were to “simplify and rationalize” 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’s 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.