Pope
Francis on Friday told the first meeting of a newly-formed Vatican committee to
reform Catholic Church finances that it should aim for transparency and helping
the needy.
Francis
told the group there should be a "new mentality" in the Vatican and a
reform of the bureaucracy to ensure "it better serves the Church".
Francis
created the group following accusations of financial mismanagement and
fraudulent behaviour in the highest echelons of the Catholic Church, including
in the Vatican bank and its real estate assets agency.
The
committee represents "the Church's awareness of its responsibility in
protecting and managing its assets carefully in view of its mission to
evangelise and particularly to help the needy," the pope said.
"Do
not abandon this path: transparency and efficiency for this aim," he said,
adding: "It will not be easy and it will require courage and
determination".
Francis was
speaking a day after the first meeting of another Vatican committee he has set
up to tackle the issue of child sex abuse by priests in response to a wave of
scandals that have engulfed the Church.
The Vatican
has vowed zero tolerance against predators.
It has also
passed legislation and implemented measures to improve transparency at the
Institute for Religious Works (IOR), the Vatican bank, as two of its former
directors prepare to stand trial for money laundering.
A top
Vatican accountant is also a defendant in a second trial for allegedly trying
to smuggle money through Vatican bank accounts on behalf of a wealthy shipping
company in order to dodge Italian taxes.
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Members of the anti-paedophilia Pontifical commission, US Cardinal Sean
Patrick O'Malley (R) and Irish Marie Collins attend a press conference on
May 3, 2014 at the Vatican (AFP Photo/Tiziana Fabi)
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Marie
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on clerical sex abuse (Photo: PA)
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