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Pope Francis creates new department to oversee Vatican finance


    VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis has ordered a new Vatican department to be created to supervise all the tiny city state's economic and administrative affairs and will nominate an auditor to provide broad oversight, the Vatican said on Monday.

    The new department, set up in the wake of a scandal at the Vatican's main banking arm, formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), will be headed by Australian Cardinal George Pell.

    It said APSA, the department which manages the Holy See's financial holdings, will become the Vatican central bank. That change will not affect the status of the IOR for the time being, a spokesman said.

    (Reporting by Philip Pullella)