VATICAN CITY
BBC News
The Vatican has ordered the first ever external audit of its accounts as part of Pope Francis’ efforts to reform the Roman Catholic Church.
The auditor, accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, will start work immediately, a papal spokesman said.
Pope Francis has promised to make the Vatican’s finances more transparent after a series of scandals.
Last year he created a new ministry to oversee papal finances, headed by Cardinal George Pell.
Cardinal Pell later said he had discovered millions of euros “tucked away”.
While he did not say any wrongdoing had occurred, he added Vatican departments long had “an almost free hand” with their finances.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.