New Board to Run Vatican Bank As Reform Push Continues

By Liam Moloney
Wall Street Journal
July 8, 2014

http://online.wsj.com/articles/new-board-to-run-vatican-bank-as-reform-push-continues-1404825186?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304418604580016762237676010.html

ROME—The Catholic Church moved on Tuesday to deepen reform of the Vatican bank by replacing its board as the bank reported a nose dive in profit during 2013.

The Holy See decided to appoint a new board of superintendence under a plan to create simpler and more efficient structures to serve the church and make financial scandals a thing of the past.

This is only the second time in its 127-year history that the bank, officially called the Institute for the Works of Religion, or IOR, has published its financial accounts and comes as part of Pope Francis ' push for greater transparency.

Net profit in 2013 fell to ˆ2.87 million ($3.90 million) from ˆ86.6 million the year before, the IOR said in a statement. In 2011, net profit was ˆ20.3 million.

"We are now in a position to move the IOR to a second phase of reform under new leadership," said Australian Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the recently created Secretariat for the Economy, in a statement. "This is a time of major change in the Holy See, not only for the IOR."